backgammon rules

Backgammon Rules

Basic backgammon rules

Backgammon is a game for two, combining skill and luck.

It is played on a special board with twenty-four points. Each player has fifteen pieces and two dice.

The object is to bring all your pieces into your inner board and then bear them off. The player who bears off his pieces first is the winner.

A piece can never move backwards. They move towards their destinations, which are their respective inner tables.

The moves are regulated by dice. Dice also decide who plays first.

Moves are taken individually. Strictly speaking, 3-1 does not make 4. If you decide to move one piece, he would have to stop first at 3 or at 1, before making the final move.

Plays must be made for both dice, if possible. You may not refuse to make a move if one is possible. (There is no top limit on the number of pieces of the same colour that may occupy a single point).

If you cannot make both moves, and you have a choice, the higher figure must be played.

Each player must throw his dice into the board on his right. While he is moving his pieces, the dice must be left on the board. If a die falls outside or ends in a tilted position, the player must throw both dice again.

At the start of a game either player may demand to use the same dice as his opponent, or to have the dice mixed.

When you hit a blot, your opponent must make no move before re-introducing the hit piece into your inner table.

The points of the inner tables are notionally numbered from one to six. This enables the players to re-introduce their blots and bear off their pieces.

Winner is the player who bears off all his pieces first. There are three types of victories: single, double (gammon) and triple (backgammon). A single victory is scored when your opponent has entered all his pieces in his inner board and has borne off at least one piece. A gammon or double victory is scored when your opponent has been unable to bear off any of his pieces. A backgammon or triple victory is scored when your opponent has not taken off any and has one or more of his pieces in your inner table. Points are awarded according to your victory: one point for single, two points for double and three points for triple.
There are proposals to abolish the triple (backgammon) victory.
Many discriminating players believe that "triple" victory or backgammon can only be achieved by scandalous luck and consequently should be abolished.

So far we have mentioned the basic rules of the game only. There are many other rules which regulate the gambling aspects of the game, such as the use of the doubling cube.

Basic concepts

Hitting a blot- A "blot" is a single piece occupying a point. A blot is unprotected and vulnerable to attacks by the other player (known as "hits" in the backgammon idiom). To hit a blot you must land, with one or more of your pieces, on its point. Then you put your opponent's piece on the bar, that is on the space that divides the two tables in half.

Blocks - When two or more pieces of the same colour occupy a point, that point belongs to their side so long as at least two stay there, and constitutes a block for the opponent, who can neither land nor stop on it. "Making points" is one of the most rewarding tactics in backgammon.

Bearing off - That is, taking your pieces off the board - is the last phase of the game. To bear off, all your pieces must first be in your inner table. You bear off in accordance with dice rolls. The six faces of a die correspond with the six points of your inner table (or that of your opponent's, if you have to re-enter a hit blot). You must play your entire roll, if possible, even if this is to your disadvantage. Suppose that, when bearing off, the number on one of the dice relates to a point that is vacant. In this case, you have either to move a piece within your table or bear off a piece from a lower numbered point. For example, if you have your last two pieces on point one, and you throw 4-3, you bear off both of them, for they are on a lower number than your roll and no other piece are on higher points. But if you have two pieces on point five and throw 4-3, you must move one piece to point one and one to point two. You cannot bear any off.

Primes - Each point you make increases your chance of beating your opponent. Six points in a row constitute a prime. Since the dice have no number higher than 6, a prime is an impregnable wall against your opponent's piece. It is one of the most important factors in the game, and when it is built in your inner table, the latter is called a closed board.

Elementery strategy

No matter what tactics you may employ once you become a seasoned player, your overall strategy will always be prompted by two objectives:
To move away your runners - that is, the two pieces in the inner table of your opponent.
To prevent your opponent from moving his runners away.
It is best to do both at once, if possible. If not, you will have to choose either to attack, and risk losing a double game, or to block your opponent's runners by building as many obstacles in their way as possible.
Some believe that adopting tactics is a matter of character rather than planning. Quite a few go even further by arguing that what we call "aggressive" or "defensive" attitudes are almost automatic, as they are chosen spontaneously by us. Yet one of the greatest assets of playing games is that they often force us to re-educate our instincts. Players who always adopt aggressive, or defensive, attitudes, because "they cannot help it", rarely become masters in their games. The spontaneous reactions have to be deliberately checked in favour of a rational approach. Players must learn to assess the situation first, and then decide what type of game will enable them to achieve the best results. Needless to say, in the course of a game, they may have to change tactics more than once.
If that is hard to understand to the beginner, who is assumed to know little more than how to move his pieces, take consolation in the fact that backgammon, like bridge, has many schools of play and various systems of evaluating a position. Before going further on the subject of tactics, we need to understand that most analysts agree that the results of backgammon games are enormously influenced by dice rolls. Even the most expert players admit that skill does not contribute more than one quarter to the result of a game. The rest is luck. Skill in backgammon lies in adaptability to the whims of the dice, and knowledge of the probabilities. Consequently, even an experienced player cannot decide beforehand what style of game he will adopt in a given contest, for it is the die that dictates both pace and style. All the same, knowledge of the available lines of play may enable him to choose the right one in the prevailing circumstances.

See strategies,Gambling for more.

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