BACKGAMMON

RULES

OBJECTIVE: Be the first to move all 15 of your checkers to the magnet on your home side of the board

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2

MATERIALS: Backgammon Board, Checkers, Dice

TYPE OF GAME: Board game

AGES: 6 and up

OVERVIEW

WHAT’S IN THE CASE?

30 checkers: 15 green squares, and 15 white circles
5 dice: 4 D6s and 1 doubling die
The opened case facilitates as the game board, while resting on a flat surface with the board lengthwise, home board at 3 o’clock for the player using the green squares, and outer board at 9 o’clock.

SETUP

BOARD LANDMARKS

The board is split in half by a hinge, which separates the outer board from the home board. The back of the hinge is also called the “bar”. The board is made up of 24 spaces with triangles embedded on the surface. These spaces are known as ”points”, and have tactile indicators in the center as well as on the long edges of the the board for quick reference.

Play will move clockwise for the green squares, and counter-clockwise for the white circles, until each players’ pieces reach their side of the home board. The discs are both color and shape-coded: 15 white circles and 15 green squares. Set up the board with the green squares first: 6th point, three discs on the 8th, five discs on the 13th, and two discs on the 24th. The player places the dark discs with two discs on the 1st point, 5 discs on the 12th point, 3 discs on the 17th, and 5 discs on the 19th.

Players will strive to move all their pieces to their home board and bear them off. A strong strategy is to try hitting as many of your opponent’s unprotected playing pieces, also known as “blots,” along the way.

movement

To start, both players will roll one die; the player that rolls the higher die goes first. From here, players alternate turns accordingly.

On a player’s turn, they will roll both dice to determine their movement. The game’s goal is to bear off, or remove, your pieces from play. You do this by getting your pieces around the board into your home section.

You are always moving your pieces towards your home board. The discs can only move the number of rolled spaces to an open point. This rule means that the point is NOT occupied by TWO or more of your opponent’s pieces. If the point has only ONE of your opponent’s pieces, you are encouraged to move your disc there to” hit” your opponent. More on this under the section titled “Hitting a piece.”

After rolling your dice, you have two choices for movement. 1. You can assign each die value to one checker, or 2. Use both dice values to move one checker, as long as the value of each die moves your checker to an open point. You can stack as many of your discs as you choose on any one point.

Doubles

If you roll doubles, you get to move double the amount. For example, if players rolled double 2s, they could move four 2s in any combination they choose. You must move the full count of the roll, if possible. If you cannot move, your turn is over.

Blot

If you can land on a point with only 1 of your opponent’s pieces, known as a “blot,” then you can “hit,” by occupying that space and moving your opponent’s checker to the bar. The bar is the center of the board, where the board folds in half. You can hit more than one of your opponent’s pieces in a turn. Checkers on the bar must be re-entered into play before any other movement can be made. They must re-enter the board on their opponent’s side of the home board.

You must use your whole turn when re-entering the game from the bar. If you roll a 3-4, you can re-enter on the 3 or 4 point and then move according to the remaining die, as you would on a normal turn. You can hit an opponent’s piece on the home or outer board.

Bearing off

All 15 checkers must be on your side of the home board before you can begin bearing off. To bear off, roll the dice and stack the checkers from the coordinating point on to the magnet. For example, if you roll a 6 & 5, and both of those points are occupied, you can bear off both.

If the die roll is higher than the point where your checker is located, i.e., you roll a 6, but the highest occupied point is 5, you can bear off that checker. The number on the die must be equal or higher than the highest point in order to bear off that coordinating checker.

END OF THE GAME

The player who successfully bears off all their checkers from the home board first wins the game! If you can remove all 15 of your discs before your opponent has borne off any of theirs, it is considered a gammon, and the win is worth two points instead of one.

If you can bear off all 15 of your discs before your opponent has the chance to bear any of theirs, and your opponent still has a disc on your home board, then the win is considered backgammon and is worth 3 points.

The Doubling die

This die is used mostly in competitions and is not an essential game component. However, it does add an element of excitement on any level. The die doubles the game’s stakes, and numbers mark the cube with 2,4,8,16,32 and 64. the 2 has a flat surface , showing a print number 2. All other sides have both braille and high-contrast print.

If you decide to play with the doubling cube, you will start the game off at one point. If, at some point in the game, one of the opponents feels they have an advantage to win, they can pull out the doubling cube and double the points of the game from one to two. The opposing player can accept the challenge by picking up the cube and placing it on their side of the board. Otherwise, they can concede the game right then and there and choose to lose one point instead of two.

If the opponent accepts the challenge, the player that accepted now can double the game once again if the tide turns in their favor, raising the stakes from two points to four. Now, the opposing opponent can accept or concede,; if they concede, they give up two points instead of one.

Enjoy!