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Backgammon Rules

This is 'backgammon rules' article. Online backgammon has become very popular in the last years and more and more people want to learn how to play backgammon. In order to know how to play backgammon, first you must learn the rules. It is very easy to learn and understand the rules. This article will review all the basic of backgammon rules which will help every user to play the game.

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About the game

Backgammon is a board game and includes a board, checkers, dice and two players.

1. The board contains twenty four narrow triangles called points, which are grouped into four quadrants of six triangles each and are counted from one to twenty-four. The only purpose of the colors of the triangles in backgammon is to help moving the checkers easily on the board. The triangles refer to the home-board and outer home of each player. Each player has one quadrant that is used as a home-board of the player.

2. The checkers are the tools that the players move on the board. Every player has fifteen checkers in the beginning of the game and each player plays with an opponent color of checkers.

3. There are two dice in backgammon, each dice contain points from one to six. The player throws the two dice in his turn, and according the result of the points, moves his checkers on the board.

4. The purpose of the game is to move all your checkers into your home-board, and then bear them off. The winner in backgammon is the first player who bears off all his checkers.

Backgammon Rules and Objectives - Starting

The backgammon game starts with the throwing of a single dice by each player, in order to determine who will go first. If the points of the dice are equal, both players will throw again the dice, until the points are different. The player with the higher points begins the game and plays according to the first points of his and his partner's dice. After the first backgammon dice roll, the backgammon players throw both of the dice, each player in his turn.

In the picture below, you can see the arrangement of the checkers on the board in the beginning of the game.

Opening board according to traditional backgammon rules

Picture was taken from Play65 online backgammon software.

Moving the Checkers

1. The checkers move according to the dice's points and can move only forward to a lower-number of board points. You can not move backwards with the checkers. In your partner's home-board the points are the highest, but in your home-board, they are the lowest.

2. The checkers are moved only to open points, unoccupied by two or more opposing checkers.

3. The points of the dice constitute two separate moves. For example, a dice roll of five and three, allows the backgammon player to move one checker five spaces to an open point, and the other checker, three spaces to an open point. Alternatively, he may move one checker continuously through eight spaces until he reaches an open point, but only if one of the intermediate points (either three or five spaces from the starting point) is also open.

4. A roll of double, meaning that the points on the dice are equal, allows the backgammon player to play for two times the points shown on the dice. Thus, in a roll of 5 and 5 the player will move his checkers four times, advancing five points in each move. He may move in any combination of checkers he thinks appropriate in order to complete this requirement.

5. According to backgammon rules, in each roll of the dice, the player must use both of the points appearing on them, in case it is possible; if only one number can be played, the player must play it. If either number can be played but not both at a time, the player must play the larger one. The player loses his turn when neither number can be played. These rules are also valid in a roll of double.

Hitting and Entering

A blot is a point occupied by a single checker of either color. When an opposing checker lands on a blot, the checker is hit and placed on the bar. Before he can move any of the checkers placed on the board, the backgammon player must first enter the checkers (either having one or more checkers) on the bar into the opposing home- board, according to the points of the dice roll, by moving them to an open point. Once the last of the checkers have been entered, the unused points on the dice must be played, by moving any of the backgammon player’s checkers. For example: let's say that a backgammon player is hit by the opponent and two of his checkers are placed on the bar. The player rolls four and six, and now he may enter the checkers onto either the opponent's four point or six points. If only the fourth point is open, the player enters one checker and waits until his next turn. If both, of the fourth and sixth points are open, the player enters both checkers, and if both, the fourth and the sixth are occupied, he forfeits the remainder of his turn.

Bearing Off

After all the fifteen checkers have been moved into the backgammon player's home-board, the player may start bearing them off. A player is allowed bearing off only when all his checkers are in his home- board .The backgammon player removes the checkers from the board by rolling the dice. Only the checkers resting on the points corresponding to the roll can be removed from the board. Although the player should bear the checkers off as soon as he can, he is allowed to make alternative moves inside the home-board in order to advance. After there are no more checkers resting on the point that is indicated by the roll, the backgammon player must move them to the higher-numbered points. If there are no checkers on higher-numbered points, the player is required to remove the checker that resides on the highest point. If a checker is hit while the backgammon player is bearing off, this process will stop until the player brings the checker back to his home- board (the same procedure as you saw above at 'Hitting and Entering' category). The winner is the first backgammon player to bear off all his fifteen checkers.

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Winning

According to traditional backgammon rules, there are three ways of winning the game:

1. The classic way is when the loser has borne off at least one of his checkers. In this case, the winner wins with one point.

2. If a player loses the backgammon game and has not borne off any of his checkers, he is a 'Gammon' and the winner wins with two points.

3. Still worse, when a backgammon player loses the game, without having borne off any of his checkers and still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home-board, he is a 'Backgammon' according to the 'backgammon rule' and the winner wins with three points.

Summarizing, the backgammon rules are very simple but a player can achieve skills only by playing as many online backgammon games as possible.

These basic backgammon rules refer to online backgammon, while there are some irregularities in them in comparison to live backgammon.

Read more about online backgammon rules. (Go to 'Help' subpage)

The backgammon rules detailed above are only the basics of the game, and we hope that they have helped you to learn how to play backgammon. However, you can read more about advanced backgammon rules. We recommend you to play some online backgammon games, so you will improve your skills, start to win a lot, and enjoy all the advantages of online backgammon. Those of you, who know how to play backgammon and are familiar with all the backgammon rules, can do further reading in the article 'How to play backgammon'.

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