Backgammon – Rules of the game
Backgammon – Rules of the game |
Place five checkers on 6th point, three on the 8th point, five on the 13th point and the balance two on the 24th point. The same rule is applicable to your opponent also. Now the 13th point, where five checkers are placed in the beginning, is called the mid-point. Now, which one is the bar point? It’s the 7-point, immediate next point of the bar, where no checker is placed in the beginning. There is another point, called the Ace-point. The last point, where you can move, is essentially the 1-point of yours. So again your mid-point is the opponent’s ace-point and vice-versa. Both players have their own pair of dice and a dice cup used for shaking. A doubling cube, with the numerals 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 on its faces, is used to keep track of the current stake of the game. Object of the game: The object of the game is to move all your checkers into your own home board and then bear them off. The first player to bear off all of their checkers wins the game. Movements of the checkers: To start the game, each player throws a single die. The throw is only valid if the dice lands on the board and finally comes to stop with a particular number on the top. The throw is considered to be invalid if the dice lands outside the board or if it does not lands flat and a particular number is not on the top. This determines which player to go first and the numbers to be played. If equal numbers come up, then both players roll again until they roll different numbers. The player throwing the higher number now moves his checkers according to the numbers showing on both dice. After the first roll, the players throw two dice and alternate turns. The roll of the dice indicates how many points, or pips, the player is to move his checkers. The checkers are always moved forward, to a lower-numbered point. The following rules apply: 1. A checker may be moved only to an open point, one that is not occupied by two or more opposing checkers. 2. The numbers on the two dice constitute separate moves. For example, if a player rolls 5 and 3, he may move one checker five spaces to an open point and another checker three spaces to an open point, or he may move the one checker a total of eight spaces to an open point, but only if the intermediate point (either three or five spaces from the starting point) is also open. 3. A player who rolls doubles plays the numbers shown on the dice twice. A roll of 6 and 6 means that the player has four sixes to use, and he may move any combination of checkers he feels appropriate to complete this requirement. A player must use both numbers of a roll if this is legally possible (and all four numbers of a double). When only one number can be played the player must play that number. Or if either number can be played but not both, the player must play the larger one. When neither number can be used, the player loses his turn. In the case of doubles, when all four numbers cannot be played, the player must play as many numbers as he can. Hitting and Entering: A point occupied by a single checker of either color is called a blot. If you move a checker 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 checker 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 checker 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 the opponent does not own point. In the event that a player has one or more checkers on the bar, his first obligation is to enter those checker(s) into the opposing home board. A checker is entered by moving it to an open point corresponding to one of the numbers on the rolled dice. For example, if a player rolls 4 and 6, he may enter a checker onto either the opponent's four point or six points, so long as two or more of the opponent’s checkers does not occupy the prospective point. If neither of the points is open, the player loses his turn. If a player is able to enter some but not all of his checkers, he must enter as many as he can and then forfeit the remainder of his turn. After the last of a player's checkers has been entered, any unused numbers on the dice must be played, by moving either the checker that was entered or a different checker. Bearing Off: The deciding factor, whether you win or lose in a particular game! Whoever bears off all his checkers first, wins the game. Once a player has moved all of his fifteen checkers into his home board, he may commence bear off. A player bears off a checker by rolling a number that corresponds to the point on which the checker resides, and then removing that checker from the board. Thus, rolling a 6 permits the player to remove a checker from the six points. If there is no checker on the point indicated by the roll, the player must make a legal move using a checker on a higher-numbered point. If there are no checkers on higher-numbered points, the player is permitted (and required) to remove a checker from the highest point on which one of his checkers resides. A player is under no obligation to bear off if he can make an otherwise legal move. Doubling: Backgammon is played for an agreed stake per point. Each game starts at one point. During the course of the game, a player who feels he has a sufficient advantage may propose doubling the stakes. He may do this only at the start of his own turn and before he has rolled the dice. A player who is offered a double may refuse, in which case he concedes the game and plays one point. Otherwise, he must accept the double and play on for the new higher stakes. A player who accepts a double becomes the owner of the cube and only he may make the next double. Subsequent doubles in the same game are called redoubles. If a player refuses a redouble, he must pay the number of points that were at stake prior to the redouble. Otherwise, he becomes the new owner of the cube and the game continues at twice the previous stakes. There is no limit to the number of redoubles in a game. The doubles may continue in this way all the way up to 64 (1-2-4-8-16-32-64). Gammons and Backgammons: The player who first removes all their pieces from the board wins. If their opponent has not borne off any pieces, the game is worth double (this is known as a gammon). If their opponent has not borne off any pieces, and still has any pieces left in the winner's inner table, then the game is worth triple (this is known as backgammon). Optional Rules: The following optional rules are in widespread use. 1. Automatic doubles: If identical numbers are thrown on the first roll, the stakes are doubled. The doubling cube is turned to 2 and remains in the middle. Players usually agree to limit the number of automatic doubles to one per game. 2. Beavers: In money play, if player A doubles, and player B believes that he is a favorite holding the cube, he may turn the cube an extra notch as he takes, and keep the cube on his own side. For example, if A makes an initial double to 2, B may, instead of taking the double and holding a 2 cube, say "beaver", turn the cube an extra notch to 4, and continue the game holding a 4 cube 3. Raccoons: If A believes that B's beaver was in error, he may then "raccoon", turning the cube yet another notch (to 8 in the example). Cube ownership remains with B. B may then if he wishes turn the cube yet another notch, saying "aardvark", or "otter" or whatever silly animal name he prefers (the correct animal is a matter of controversy), and so on so forth. 4. The Jacoby Rule: The Jacoby Rule is named after the late great gamesman Oswald Jacoby. Jacoby rule states that gammon and backgammon will come into effect, if and only if the player has announced a double and accepted by the opponent. The Jacoby Rule is mostly applied in Money game to encourage a player for higher points in a game of double. This brings speed in the game, where the player never waits for the gammon or backgammon; rather he announces double for faster points. Jacoby rules are applicable essentially for money play but hardly used in Match play. Gammons and backgammons count only as a single game if neither player has offered a double during the course of the game. This rule speeds up play by eliminating situations where a player avoids doubling so he can play on for a gammon. 5. The Crawford Rule: The Crawford rule is named after John R. Crawford. When either of the players is just short of one point from the victory, then the opponent cannot announce a double in the subsequent game. This particular game, where double is prohibited, is called the Crawford game. Scientifically, even if a double is announced and accepted by the player approaching the victory, it will be nullified because point 1 or 2 can create hardly any difference for him. Rather the double may benefit the opponent who is losing. But if the Crawford game remains indecisive in terms of final win or loss, then all the rules of double and redouble will be back in place in the subsequent games. This rule has been accepted worldwide. Even United States Backgammon Tournament Rules & Procedures follow Crawford rule at the closing stage of any tournament. 6. Holland Rule: It is an extension of Crawford rule, where the rule says that after the Crawford game, the trailer can announce a double after completion of two valid rolls of both the players. But Holland rule could not sustain in the long run because of its confusing nature and complexity in implementation. The following should be kept in mind while playing the game: 1. Jacoby Rules and Crawford Rules are followed even in the online games today. But the online competitors declare their special terms and conditions (if any) in their site very clearly for the convenience of the players, because you may find many players from different parts of the world are playing simultaneously in the same game. 2. It should be noted that Beavers and the rest of the animals may be played or not in money play, as the players wish. 3. Beavers and other animals are never used in match play. 4. It should be noted that the original cube turner could drop a beaver. For example, suppose I miscount a bearoff and double, you accept and say you want to beaver. I realize something is wrong and recount. If I am horribly behind, I can drop the beaver, paying you the value on the cube before you beavered. Irregularities: 1. The dice must be rolled together and land flat on the surface of the board. The player must re-roll both dice if a die lands outside the right-hand board, or lands on a checker, or does not land flat. 2. A turn is completed when the player picks up his dice. If the play is incomplete or otherwise illegal, the opponent has the option of accepting the play as made or of requiring the player to make a legal play. A play is deemed to have been accepted as made when the opponent rolls his dice or offers a double to start his own turn. 3. If a player rolls before his opponent has completed his turn by picking up the dice, the player's roll is voided. This rule is generally waived any time a play is forced or when there is no further contact between the opposing forces. |
