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RULES of backgammon
HOW TO PLAY BACKGAMMON THE BOARD AND OTHER EQUIPMENT The game is played on a specially designed board
consisting of 4 tables of 6 thin points or triangles on each table. The
points start from the edges of the board nearest the players and are
directed inwards so that they form 2 rows of twelve points opposite each
other. A bar divides the board and the 2 tables on one side are called the "home tables" or "inner tables", the others are called the "outer tables". Traditionally, the inner tables should be positioned facing the greatest light source. There are 15 white disks, 15 black disks,2 dice, 2 dice shakers and a doubling cube. The doubling cube is a die having the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 inscribed upon its six sides. GAME OBJECTIVE Each player tries to move all his pieces into the inner table nearest to him (his home table) and once that is accomplished, to move or "bear" the pieces off the board. The 1st player to do this wins. This is only 1/2 the story because backgammon is not being played properly unless it is being played for stakes or money. So the ultimate objective of a Backgammon game is to win more stakes than the opponent. |
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BEGINNING THE GAME Pieces can only be moved in a single direction - from the opponent's home table through the opponent's outer table, back through the player's outer table and finishing in the player's inner table. White pieces move in a clockwise direction, Black moves in an anti-clockwise direction. Since the inner tables point towards the light, it should therefore be clear who sits where. For the purposes of describing the starting position, the points will be numbered one to twelve on either side of the board beginning with the 1st square of the inner table and finishing with the last square of the outer table. On Black's side, position two white pieces on point one, five black pieces on square six, three black pieces on square eight and five white pieces on square twelve. White's side should be the mirror image of this arrangement. |
Although Backgammon is played for stakes, this does not necessarily mean money - you can use beans, counters or you can just keep a score with pen and paper. However, the gambling element can be removed completely by following the normal rules and merely ignoring the doubling cube and the stakes. Normally, however, a stake is decided up front be it for money or some other stake.>
To start, each player rolls one die each at the same time. If a double is rolled, then the stake is doubled and both players roll again. This is repeated until one player rolls a higher number than the other. The player with the highest number throws then uses the dice throw from both players to take the 1st turn and also chooses to play white or black.
STAKES AND DOUBLING
At any time after the first turn, either player can offer to double the stakes before throwing the dice. Upon being presented with such an ultimatum, the other player must choose either to forfeit the game and the current stake or accept the offer.
Once the stake has been doubled once in this way, only the player who accepted the most recent offer to double the stake can offer to re-double it. Whenever this happens, the other player either forfeits the game or accepts the double and the opportunity to offer the next double.
The doubling cube is used to record the current amount of the stake.
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