Backgammon

The Rules Of Backgammon
Here you will finds the rules of backgammon that are simple and straightforward you can then after digesting the information below sharpen your skills and chances of winning by going to the strategy section.

Equipment Used To Play The Game
•• A Backgammon board or layout.

•• Thirty round stones, or checkers, 15 each of two different colors,

•• A Backgammon board or layout.

•• Thirty round stones, pr checkers, 15 each of two different colors, generally referred to as the players `men'.

•• A pair of regular dice, numbered from 1 to 6.

•• A dice cup is used to shake and cast the dice.

•• A doubling cube---A six-faced die, marked with the numerals 2,4,8,16,32 & 64. This is used to keep track of the number of units at stake in each game, as well as to mark the player who last doubled.


The backgammon board
Backgammon is really an obstacle race between two armies of 15 men, moving around a track divided into 24 dagger-like divisions known as ``points''.

The Backgammon board is divided down the center by a partition, known as the ``bar'' into an outer and inner (or home) board or table. The side nearest you is your outer and home tables; the side farther away is your opponent's outer and home boards. The arrows indicate the direction of play.

Starting the game
Each player casts one die. The player with the higher number plays first. Using the two numbers cast by his die and his opponent's. In the event that both players roll the same number, it is a standoff and each rolls another die to determine who plays first.

In the event of subsequent ties, this process is repeated until the dice turn up different numbers.

Moving Your Men
Each player's turn consists of the roll of two dice. They then move one or more men in accordance with the numbers cast.

For example a player rolls 4 & 2. The player may move one man six spaces, or one man four spaces and another man two spaces.

Doublets If the same number appears on both dice, for example, 3 -3 or 6 -6 (known as doublets), the player is entitled to four moves instead of two.

Therefore, if he rolls 3-3, he can move up to four men, but each move must consist of three spaces.

The players throw and play alternately throughout the game, except in the case where a player cannot make a legal move and therefore his turn is skipped.

Making Points
A player makes a point by positioning two or more of his men on it. He then ``owns'' the point, and his opponent can not come to rest on that point or touch down on it when taking the combined total of his dice with one man.

Prime
A player who has made six consecutive points has completed a prime. An opposing man trapped behind a prime cannot move past, for it cannot be moved more than six spaces at a time i.e. the highest number on a die.

Blots
A single man on a point is called a blot. If you move a man onto an opponent's blot, or touch down on it in the process of moving the combined total of your cast, the blot is hit, removed from the board and placed on the bar.

A man that has been hit must re-enter in the opposing home table. A player may not make any move until such time as he has brought the man on the bar back into play. Re-entry is made on a point equivalent to the number of one of the dice cast, providing that point is not owned by the opponent.

Closed board
A Player who has made all six points in his home board is said to have a closed board.

If the opponent has any men on the bar, he will not be able to re-enter it since there is no vacant point in his opponents home board, he therefore forfeits his rolls of the dice, and continues to do so until such time as the player has to open up a point in his home board, providing a point of reentry.

The player doesn't actually lose his turn, as he still retains the ability to double his opponent before any of his opponent's rolls, assuming the cube is centered or on his side.

Compulsory Move
A player is compelled to take his complete move if there is any way for him to do so:

If both parts of the roll can be played legally, then it must be played. Note that you may play the roll in such a way as to move fewer pips than the larger die indicates by playing the smaller die first --- this is common in bearoff situations, and legal as long as each part of the roll is played legally at the moment you play it.

If only one part of the roll can be played, then a player must play the higher die if possible; if not, play the lower die.

Bearing off
Once a player has brought all his men into his home board, he can commence bearing off. Men borne off the board are not re-entered into play. The player who bears off all his men first is the winner.

A player may not bear off men while he has a man on the bar, or outside his home board. Thus if, in the process of bearing off, a player leaves a blot and it is hit by his opponent, he must first re-enter the man in his opponents home board, and bring it round the board into his own home board before he can continue the bearing off process.

In bearing off, a player removes men from the points corresponding to the numbers on the dice cast a player is not however compelled to remove a man. A player may move a man inside the home board a number of spaces equivalent to the number of a die.

If a player rolls a number higher than the highest point on which they have a man, they may apply that number to your highest occupied point. For example, if a player rolls 6-3 and 6-points has already been cleared but the player has men on the 5-point, they may use their 6 to remove a man from the opponents 5-point.

Gammon and Backgammon
If a player bears off all 15 of your men before your opponent has borne off any man at all, they win a gammon, or double game.

If a player bears off all 15 of their opponent's men before they have borne off a single man, and he still has one or more men in your home board or on the bar, you win backgammon, or a triple game.

Cocked dice
It is customary to cast your dice in your right-hand board. Both dice must come to rest completely flat in that board. If one die crosses the bar into the other table, or jumps off the board, or does not come to rest flat, or ends up resting on one of the men, the dice are ``cocked'' and the whole throw, using both dice, must be retaken.

These Are The Basic Rules Now Sharpen Your Skills To Win!
Go the strategy section to lean how to put the odds in your favor and read some of the articles which are provided on all aspects of the game.

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