The dice have been rolled and backgammon is in at Morrill Memorial Library.

Devotees of the 5,000-year-old lightning-quick board game can come to the library on Sept. 3 at 6:30 p.m. to form a backgammon club, which will meet every Thursday at the same time.

"It's a fast and exciting game," said Sharon Styles of Norwood. "The games are over real fast and it's hard to win all the time."

Backgammon, which can be traced to the ancient Persians and Romans and even earlier, is a two-player board game that uses pieces called checkers. The board, or table, consists of 24 narrow triangles called points.

A player gets 15 checkers, a pair of dice, and a dice cup for shaking. The roll of the dice determines how many points a player can move checkers. The object of the game is to advance all of the checkers off the table before the opposition does.

Adult services librarian April Cushing got the idea to form the club from Styles, who plays backgammon online and at a Burlington church.

"I love playing, especially online because you are able to play at all hours of the day," said Styles.

She wanted to find a place closer to home to play, which is why she suggested the club to Cushing.

Suggestions have also been made for chess and cribbage clubs, according to Cushing.

"A backgammon club had been suggested before but it never came to be," said Cushing. "But with such interest by Styles and several other people I thought it would be a great thing to offer."

Cushing says games such as backgammon owe their resurgence to players' opportunity to match wits on the Web.

But online playing misses an essential element, the communal aspect of games. The library gives enthusiasts a place to come together a few hours every week.

"I think people prefer to get together," said Cushing. "They tend to make it a social event."

Adults of all abilities are invited to join the club.

"It is an opportunity for people to play who don't know other backgammon players," said Cushing. "It brings people together who otherwise wouldn't be able to play."

Originally, the backgammon club was going to meet on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m., but Cushing was informed that several members of the Scrabble club, which she formed about a year ago, were interested in joining backgammon as well.

"Theses people take their Scrabble very seriously," said Cushing. "They are a small, dedicated, tight-knit group."

The members play up to three games a night, some from 6:30 p.m. until the library closes at 9. If there were no rooms available for the Scrabble club at the library, the members would gather at someone's house and play.

"I am only hoping that the backgammon club becomes as popular as the Scrabble club," said Cushing. "It is a great combination of camaraderie and competition."

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