Backgammon Rules
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Backgammon is played by two persons, on a special "board" with thirty сheckers ("men", "stones"), fifteen white and fifteen black (or red). The board is square, usually of wood, lined with leather, and is divided into two equal compartments, each with a raised wall or border.
The board is so placed in use that the two compartments, known as "tables", shall lie longitudinally between the players. One of these is known as the "outer", the other as the "inner" or "home" table. Which of the two is for the time being the inner and which the outer table is governed by the arrangement of the men at starting. With the checkers placed as in Fig. 1, the right hand is the inner or home table, and the left hand consequently the outer table. The portions of the two latter nearest to each player are known as bis inner and outer tables respectively.
Each table is marked with twelve "points", six at either end. They are alternately of black and white, black and red, or other distinctive colours. The two points in the inner table farthest from the dividing partition or "bar" are known as the "ace" points, and those next in order as the two or "deuce" points, followed in succession by the three or "trois" points, the four or "quatre" points, the five or "cinque" points, and finally the "six" points, next the bar. The points in the outer tables are designated in like manner, but starting in this case from the dividing partition. The ace point in the outer table is more commonly known as the "bar" point.
A pair of dice (or sometimes a pair for each player) and a couple of dice-boxes complete the apparatus of the game.
The checkers are arranged at starting as shown in Fig. 1—viz., two of White's checkers are placed on the ace point in Black's inner table, five are placed on the six point in Black's outer table, three on the deuce point in White's outer table, and five on the six point in White's inner table. Black's checkers are placed in like manner on the points immediately facing these.
Playing.
To begin the game, each player rolls one die on the half of the board to his right. The player who rolls the higher number makes the opening move of the game (if the same number is rolled then both dice must be rolled again until they are different). The player with the higher number moves one checker, in the direction shown by the arrows in the above Fig., the number of pips shown on one die, and the same or another checker the number of pips shown on the other die, again in the direction shown by the arrows. The direction of play is always towards a player's home board and the two home boards are shown in the above figure. The dice are picked up and the opponent then rolls two dice in the half of the board on his right to decide the roll for his first play. Thereafter the roll alternates.
The Moves of the Checkers.
A checker may not move onto a point occupied by two or more of the opponent's checkers. If the same checker is used for both parts of a move, then the first part of the move must also be to a point not occupied by two or more of the opponent's checkers. Let us look at the first few moves of a typical game. White rolls a four and Black rolls a three in the starting position. White has several possible moves and might decide to make the move shown in Fig. 2:
Hitting.
If a checker moves onto a point occupied by a single checker of the opponent, the latter is "hit" and is immediately placed on the bar (the central strip dividing the two halves of the board). The hitting checker replaces the hit checker on that point. A solitary checker which can be hit is known as a "blot". Continuing from the above figure, Black rolls a six and a three in reply to the opening 4-3. She can hit the white checker as shown in Fig. 3 overleaf.
If one or more checkers have been hit and are on the bar, then such checkers must be entered before any other checkers may be moved. This is done by rolling a number corresponding to a point in the opponent's home board not occupied by two or more of the opponent's checkers. Say the game continues with White rolling a 6-1, as shown below. The home boards are indicated, and the points in Black's home board are numbered from one to six. As the six-point is occupied by two or more of Black's checkers, the first move must be to enter the checker from the bar with the one. With the six, White continues with the same checker:
Doubles.
After the opening roll, if the numbers rolled on the two dice are the same, the player is said to have rolled a double. When a double is rolled, the player makes four separate moves of the number shown, one or more of which can be with the same checker. Again all moves or parts of moves must be to points not occupied by two or more of the opponent's checkers, and up to four checkers may be hit and placed on the bar.
Incomplete or Forfeited Moves.
A player must move both numbers on the dice if it is possible to do so. Often a player cannot move at all. This most frequently happens when he is on the bar and the numbers rolled correspond to points that the opponent has made in his board. Sometimes the player is not on the bar, but there is no legal way to play either of the numbers on the dice. In all of these cases, the player misses a turn and the opponent rolls. If a player can play only one number on the dice, but not both, then any move can be made for that number.
Bearing Off.
When a player has all of his remaining checkers in his home board, then he may begin to remove checkers. A checker may be removed from the point (using the same numbering system as Fig. 4) corresponding to a number shown on one die. If the number rolled on either die corresponds to a vacant point, and a player has no checker on a higher-numbered point, then a checker must be borne off from the highest-numbered point. If, however, the player does have a checker on a higher-numbered point, then a move must be made within the player's board without bearing off It should be noted that there is no obligation to bear off a checker, and on occasions it may be better to move a checker within the board, even though a checker could be borne off in Fig. 5 White rolls a 6-3.
With the six he must bear off a checker from the five-point, as he has no checker on the six-point. With the three, he is unable to bear off a checker, as the three-point is empty and he still has checkers on higher-numbered points. He must therefore move the three from the five- or four-point as he prefers. One other important point is that if a player has a checker (or checkers) hit after he has started bearing off then all such checkers must re-enter the opponent's home board and move round to the player's home board before the bear-off can resume.
Scoring.
The scoring of the game is important. The first player to remove all his checkers is the winner. If the loser has removed at least one checker, the winner gets one point. If the loser has not removed any checkers, then a gammon is scored. This is worth two points. Finally, if the loser still has a checker in the winner's home board or on the bar, and has not removed any checkers when the winner removes his final checker, then a backgammon is scored. This is worth three points.
Notation.
Up until now we have avoided introducing the reader to backgammon notation, preferring to use arrows to show the moves. However - as we discuss more complicated principles we shall need to use the notation to refer to moves and to the 24 points on the board. The backgammon board is numbered from 1 to 24 from each player's point of view. Thus White's one-point is Black's 24-point. The numbering of the board from White's point of view is as follows:
