How to play Backgammon

 

The first player to bear off all their checkers wins the game. The numbering of points is based on the point of view of the player whose turn it is to move. Each point therefore has two numbers, depending upon who is on roll. For example, White’s 5-point (or 5-pt) is Black’s 20-point.

The object of backgammon is to move all your checkers around the board in a clockwise motion and ultimately bear off the checkers from the board. The first player to remove all their checkers is the winner. The other major change from the standard backgammon rules is that a player may only hit a blot of the opposing player once they have at least one disc of theirs in their home area. The player who successfully removes all their discs from the home board first wins the game!

Your 13-point is your opponent’s 12-point, your 3-point their 22-point, etc. The point numbers in the diagram above are shown from Black’s perspective. If one or more of your checkers are on the bar, you must get those checkers back on the board before moving any others.

Otherwise, they accept the redouble, become the new owner of the cube and the game continues at twice the previous stake. There is no limit to the number of times a double may be offered in one game. After a redouble only the owner of the doubling cube can make a subsequent redouble.

The ace-point is another name for the one-point, the last point you can move your checkers to before bearing them off. Your two farthest back checkers start on the opponent’s ace-point. Notice that the player who goes first never has doubles on their first turn because ties on the first roll are always broken.

  • To determine the order of play, players each throw one die, and rerolls are used as needed to break ties.
  • There is no bonus for winning more than the required number of points.
  • Unlike chess, the first recorded game of backgammon only dates as far back as 1973.
  • The numbering of points is based on the point of view of the player whose turn it is to move.
  • They roll them onto the board on the corresponding numbered space on their opponents home board.
  • Once a player plays on the board, you may use your future rolls to move discs further down the board.

If a single checker of either color is located on a point, that is known as a blot. If your checker lands on an opponent’s blot, the opponent’s checker is removed from the board and placed on the bar (the wooden area dividing the game board in half). To determine the order of play, players each throw one die, and rerolls are used as needed to break ties.

Q: What is a multiple-cube chouette?

Imagine that each triangle on the board (commonly referred to as the points) is numbered from 1 through 24. Additionally if a player loses the game without barring off any checkers they forfeit double the current bet, this is referred to as a Gammon. If they lose while still MyStake Casino having a piece on the bar they forfeit triple the current bet, referred to as a Backgammon. If a player has any checkers on the board, they must be moved first if possible. They roll them onto the board on the corresponding numbered space on their opponents home board.

The best cups have a ridge just below the lip on the inside of the cup to ensure fair rolling. Some clubs use baffle boxes, a device through which the dice tumble, to remove even further the chance of interfering with them as they are cast. For convenience two pairs of dice, one pair for each player, are generally used. Precision dice (commonly used in casinos), specially machined for fair rolls, should be used if available. Because it is a dice game it is sometimes viewed by the uninitiated as a game of luck. In some chouettes, they may consult freely as to how rolls should be played. Too much consulting, however, can really slow the game down, so many chouettes ban consulting.

SETUP

A popular compromise permits consultation only after the cube has been turned. When the team wins a game, the box pays off to each team member and goes to the end of the line. The captain becomes the new box, and the next player in line becomes the new captain. If the lowest point your disc is on is the 3rd point and you roll a 2, you cannot remove a disc from the 3.

Rolling Doubles

Once a player has moved all of their checkers to their home board, they can start bearing off. Rolling a double will give you twice the numbers and just like a regular roll you can choose https://mystakecasinos.com/ to move one checker, or separate checkers, as long as four numbers are used. If the game is played to it’s conclusion, then the winner wins the bet multiplied by the number on the cube.

Q: What is the object of the game?

If the losing player didn’t bear off any pieces and has a chip on the middle bar, they are backgammoned and lose three games. If you roll a double on the dice, it doubles your amount of movement. For example, if you rolled double 5s, you would move four discs five spaces. If the opponent accepts the challenge, the player that accepted now can double the game once again if the tide turns in their favor, raising the stakes from two points to four. Now, the opposing opponent can accept or concede,; if they concede,, they give up two points instead of one. It’s time to put your skills into practice and become a better player, all for free, on the Backgammon Galaxy App. You can analyze your games using AI technology and gain valuable insights.

Dice

Once one or more discs enter on your side, you may use future rolls to move them further down the board. You must use your whole turn when re-entering the game from the bar. If you roll a 3-4, you can re-enter on the 3 or 4 point and then move your disc according to the remaining die, as you would on a normal turn. You can hit an opponent’s piece on the home or outer board. For example, if players rolled double 2s, they could move four 2s in any format they would like. So essentially, instead of moving two pieces, two spaces each, you get to move four pieces, two spaces each.

Now the de facto standard is eXtreme Gammon (XG) which is undoubtedly the strongest bot to date. There is a tablet version, XG Mobile, for both Apple and Android devices, but note that this version is not as strong as the PC version. Backgammon is one of the oldest games in existence alongside Go and Chess. It is probably about 5,000 years old and originated in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). An excellent pictorial history can be found in the hardback version of “The Backgammon Book” by Oswald Jacoby and John R. Crawford. If you can enter one or more of your checkers from the bar, but not all of them, you must do so. Before getting started, of course, you'll need to set up a Backgammon board.

 
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