How
to play backgammon
The object in a backgammon gamesis for players to move their checkers around
the board and into their areas. Home boards and then to remove,
the pieces off the board. The first player to bear all 15 of his
checkers off the board is the winner.
How to play backgammon Played
Opening roll
Who starts? To decide who will start the game, each player
rolls a single die and the player with the highest number begins,
using both his number and that
of his opponent in his opening move. This is called the Opening roll.
Advancing checkers The number of points, or pips, that a player may advance his
checkers is decided by the roll of the dice, with each die representing
a separate move. For example, if you roll 4 and 2, you can either
move one checker a total of 6 pips, provided that the intermediate
point is open, or you may move one checker 4 pips and another checker
2 pips.
Rolling doubles If a player rolls doubles, the
numbers are played twice. For example, if both dice read 5, you
have four moves of 5, which can be played in any legal combination
you wish: four checkers moved 5 pips each, one checker moved 20
pips (4 x 5 pips), or any same combination.
Direction of play A player's checkers may be
moved in only one direction around the board, in an imaginary U-shaped
trail starting at Point 24 of the opponent's home board and ending
at Point 1 of his own home board. Backwards moves are never permitted.
A checker may only be advanced to an Open Point: that is, any point
that is free of checkers or is occupied by the players own checkers,
or has no more than one of the opponents' checkers placed on it.
There is no limit to the amount of checkers you may place on a
single point that is in your possession. A Checker may not be advanced
to a point that is occupied by two or more of your opponents' checkers.
Pass on a turn
As long as a legal move may be made, a player may not pass on his
turn. If it is not possible to play both rolled numbers, a you
must use the higher of the two, provided that this constitutes
a legal move, otherwise you may use the lower number. A player
forfeits his turn only if neither number can be played.
Hit and Entering
A single checker on a point is known as a blot. If a player's checker
lands on an opponents blot, either as an intermediate move or as a final landing
point, the blot is removed from the board and placed on the bar. This is known
as a hit. If a player's checkers have been hit, his first priority is to enter
them back onto his opponents Home board. Until this has been done, he cannot
advance any other checkers around the board.
To return a checker to the board, you must roll
a number corresponding to an open point on his opponents open point.
Any number remaining having returned a blot to the board must be
used in the normal fashion to advance a checker. If neither of
your rolled numbers corresponds to open points, you must then forfeit
and wait for your next turn to try again.
Bearing Off
Once all 15 checkers have been advanced to the home board, you
can begin bearing them off. The dice are rolled as normal, and
checkers are then removed in correspondence to the numbers rolled.
For example, you roll 4 and 1, you may then remove a checker
from points 4 and 1.
If there are no checkers on the point indicated
by the dice, the player must move checkers from the next highest
point to a lower number. For example, if you roll 4 and 5, but
do not have checkers on these points, you must advance any checkers
that you have on point 6 down by the number of points indicated
by the dice.
If the only points occupied by checkers are lower
than the numbers rolled, the player may bear off checkers from
the next highest point down. For example, if you roll 4 and 6,
but you only have checkers on points 1, 2 and 3, then you can remove
two checkers, beginning with those on point 3.
If a player's checker is hit while bearing off,
it must first be entered back onto his opponent's home board and
then advanced back around to his home board before he can continue
to bear off.
Backgammon Doubling Cube
The Doubling Cube is used to increase and keep track of the
stakes of the game. It is marked with the numbers 2, 4, 8,
16, 32 and
64. A player can offer to double the stakes of a game at any
stage after the opening play, and before he rolls the dice
for his turn.
His opponent must decide to accept or decline the offer to double
the stakes. If he decides not to double the stakes, he loses/forfeits
the game at its present stake. If he accepts, the stakes are
doubled and the cube is turned to display the new stake.
Once a player accepts the double, he is given
possession of the cube and then only he can re-double the stakes.
If the stakes are re-doubled, control of the cube will pass back
to the other player and so on. Doubling may continue up to 64 times
the original stake only.
An interesting option. The
Doubling Cube option may be turned on/off in the "Match Terms" pop-up window before play begins.
Beavers
If a player accepts an offer to double or re-double the stakes,
and then immediately offers to double the stakes himself, he
is given the advantage of keeping control of the Doubling Cube.
This is called a Beaver. As before, a player who declines a re-double
immediately forfeits the game. The Beaver option may be turned
on/off in the "Match
Terms" pop-up window before play begins.
Gammons & Backgammons
If at the end of the game the losing player has removed one
or more of his checkers from the board, he loses whatever stake
is
shown on the Doubling Cube. If all his checkers are in his home
board, but he has not begun to remove them, he loses twice the
stakes shown on the Doubling Cube: this is known as a Gammon.
If at the end of the game, the loser has one or more checkers
in his
opponent's home board or on the bar, he loses three times the
stake indicated by the Doubling Cube: this is known as a Backgammon.
Crawford Rule
If a player comes within one point of winning a series, then
the next game will be played without the option of using the
Doubling
Cube, if you decide to play using the Crawford Rule.
Jacoby Rule
If neither player has accepted a Double during a game, then
Gammons and Backgammons count as 1 point only, if you decide
to play
using the Jacoby Rule.
HOW TO PLAY BACKGAMMON
