Acey Deucey is a fascinating and thrilling variation of the classic board game of backgammon made famous by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and the Merchant Marine. The objective of Acey Deucey remains the same as traditional backgammon: move all of your checkers around the board and bear them off before your opponent does. One of the main differences of Acey Deucey is that players start with all their checkers out. They take turns rolling the two dice and use the numbers to determine how to move their checkers.
The player can choose to enter a checker onto their opponent’s home board using one of the rolled dice, or they can move one of their checkers that’s already on the board. If a player rolls a double, they can move four checkers instead of two. The game is typically played on the same backgammon board with 15 white and 15 black checkers, each player having their home board, outer board, and a bar. The movement of checkers and the rules regarding hitting and bearing off are similar to regular backgammon.
What happens when you roll an Acey Deucy?
Another big difference with traditional backgammon is that one of the not so great rolls in backgammon became the ultimate weapon in Acey Deucy. What is this roll? Well, it’s easy to guess since it gives its name to the game: 1-2! Let see what happens when you roll 1-2 in Acey Deucy:
• At first, you play it like any other roll;
• Then you have to name the double roll of your choice and play it;
• Once you played the roll that you just called, you roll the dice again;
• If you roll another Acey Deucy, you repeat the process of playing it, calling a roll then rolling again;
• Your turn stop if you get stuck or if you are not able to play the full roll.
Acey Deucy: Bearing off and End of the game
Taking your checkers out, or bearing off, follows the same rules as traditional backgammon. You must roll the number of the point your checkers are on or roll a higher number than the checkers on the smallest point. Acey Deucy is often the scene of massive back game, since you can decide to leave a checker out of the board until the last minute for defense purposes (this last man is usually called Oscar). Once you have beared off all of your checkers, you count how many of your opponent checkers are still on the board and score this number of points accordingly.
Acey Deucy is a fun packed and thrilling variation of backgammon that we recommend trying with families and friends. The conception of the game makes massively come back possible and the Acey Deucy roll can destroy your chance of winning or save you from what may look like a desperate situation. Give it a try and tell us what you think in the comment! May the dice be with you.