Backgammon

01Discover the game

Backgammon is a race with fifteen checkers on each side. The dice determine the available moves, and you choose how to allocate them. Group your checkers to protect them, hit an exposed checker or race to bear off. The two sides move in opposite directions and pass each other during play.

The overall difficulty is difficult: it is necessary to compare the risk of being hit, the construction of solid positions and the speed of the race. We follow the standard game described by the US federation USBGF, in part family without money. The cube of double and the simple wins, gammons and backgammons are explained; the game conventions of money, like Jacoby or the Beavers, are not used.

02Equipment

Use a board with 24 points, 15 checkers of one color and 15 of another. The standard set has two dice and one cup per player, for four dice and two cups. At home you can share one pair of dice and follow the same movement rules. The doubling cube shows 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64. It tracks the value of the game and is never rolled.

The tray is divided into four quarters of six arrows. A central separation, the bar, receives the struck pawns. The neighborhood where you will bring out your pawns is called your inner Jan. To explain the blows, your arrows are numbered 24, the furthest from your exit, at the nearest 1,. The same locations carry inverse numbers for the opponent.

03The goal

Bring your fifteen pawns into your inner Jan, arrows 1 to 6, and then get them all out. The first one that comes out his fifteenth pawn wins. Definitely capturing the opposing pawns is not possible: a punched pawn must come back by the bar and resume his race.

04Install Pawns

In your own coordinates, place 2 pawns in 24, 5 in 13, 3 in 8 and 5 in 6. The adversary installs the same distribution from his point of view. Check the fifteen pawns of each camp and indicate with finger the two directions of circulation before beginning.

The cube starts in the center, out of 64 to represent an initial value of 1. Each player launches a single dice. In case of tie, restart. The one who has the highest result starts using the two results obtained, and does not restart his dice for this first move. In the following rounds, the active player launches both dice.

05Use the dice, hit and exit

Two values, two shifts

The dice represent separate moves. With 5 and 3, you can move one pawn of five arrows and another of three, or the same pawn of five then three, or three then five. The intermediate arrow must be allowed: you do not directly jump eight arrows by forgetting the step of the first dice.

An arrival is allowed on an empty arrow, occupied by your own pawns, or occupied by a single opposing pawn. Two or more opposing pawns close the arrow. There is no limit to the number of your pawns on an arrow.

With a double, the two dice are played twice: 4–4 gives four moves of four. You have to use both values when possible, or the maximum moves of a double. If only one value can be used, play it. If either one or the other could be played but not both, you have to play the highest. If nothing is legal, you pass.

Hit an isolated pawn

A pawn alone on an arrow is vulnerable. Upon arriving at it, you place it on the bar. An opposing pawn on the bar must return to your inner Jan before its owner can move another of its pawns. Several pawns on the bar must all come back before any other move.

From the bar, a dice of 1 allows to return to the first arrow of the opposing Jan; in your coordinates, it is 24. A 2 corresponds to 23, and thus until 6 which corresponds to 19. A re-entry is forbidden if the arrow contains at least two opponents, but can hit an isolated opposing pawn. After the last re-entry, uses the remaining value with any pawn if it is legal.

The exit of the pawns

The exit starts only when your fifteen pieces are still in play in your inner Jan. A dice of 3 can take out a pawn from arrow 3; a dice of 6, a pawn of 6. You can also use the result to move a pawn inside the Jan. If no pawn occupies the indicated arrow, you must move a pawn coming from a higher arrow if you can. If there is none left on a higher arrow, you can pull out the pawn furthest from the exit with a result higher than its position.

If a pawn is hit during this phase, you have to get it in and then take it back into the inner Jan before you start the exits again.

Double cube

For a first game, you can leave the cube in the center and play for a simple win. To use the double, announce it at the beginning of your turn, before throwing. The other player accepts and the value is doubled, or refuses and immediately loses the current value of the game. The player who accepts becomes owner of the cube; he alone can propose the next repeat. This mechanism here only deals with points, never on money.

06One tour and one exit as an example

In the initial position, a player gets 3–1. He can move a pawn from 8 to 5 with the 3, then a pawn from 6 to 5 with the 1. He thus creates an arrow occupied by two of his pawns: it is closed for the opponent. Move only from 8 to 4 saying "four in total" is not enough: you have to show the legal steps.

At the end of the race, suppose that your last pawns are on arrows 4 and 2. With 6–2, you can pull out the 4 pawn thanks to 6, because no pawn is on 5 or 6; then take out the 2 pawn with the 2. If another pawn was still on 6, you could not use that same 6 to pull out the 4 pawn.

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07Victory and points

If the loser has already taken out at least one pawn, the winner receives the value of the cube, or 1 without double. If the loser has taken out no pawns, it is a game: doubled value. If he has nothing out and still has a pawn on the bar or inside Jan of the winner, it is a backgammon: tripled value.

Example: cube to 4, single win = 4 points; game = 8; backgammon = 12. For this discovery, play separate games and possibly add points on a number of agreed games in advance. A tournament match imposes other conventions, notably Crawford; do not add half to this initiation.

08Frequent errors

• Add the dice and ignore a blocked intermediate arrow.
• Forget the four moves of a double.
• Move another pawn while there is one left on the bar.
• Choose the small dice when only one of the two can be used at your choice.
• Remove a pawn before all active pawns have returned to the inner Jan.
• Throw the cube: it is not a dice of displacement.

09Tips for starting

First look for the arrows that you can close with two pawns. They protect and hinder the opposite return. Before isolating a pawn, count the results that would make it possible to hit it and compare this danger with the advantage obtained. Avoid automatically moving the most advanced pawn: the distant pawns must also progress.

First learn without a cube to control the movements. When you understand the race and the blocked positions, add the double. After a bad throw, look for the best shot available rather than replay the dice: accepting a part of chance is part of the game.