Backgammon is a kind of board game that involves two players. This game is played by moving the pieces until such time that he has none left on the board, and the player who has removed all his pieces wins the match. The moves made on the pieces depend upon the roll of the dice, but this game requires skill and strategy to be able to win the round. In this article we will first tell you where you can play this great game online for real money and after that go into more details about backgammon and reveal the basic information that you need to know in order to actually play it.
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Backgammon Setup
When you look at the backgammon board, you will notice 12 long triangles, which are called points and are numbered from one through twenty-four. The points are connected together from one edge of the board to the other, and the track that it forms is that of a horseshoe or U-shaped.
The pieces are placed in this manner. Two checkers are located on the 24 point, three on the 8-point, five on the 13-point, and the last five checkers on the 6-point.
The movement of the checkers is in opposite directions wherein the player moves his checkers from 24-point down to 1-point.
Now, 1-point through 6-point are considered as the home board, also called the inner board; and 7-point through 12-point are considered as the bar point; while the 13-point is considered as the mid point.
Backgammon Objective
The objective of the backgammon game is simple. All the player has to do to win the match is to remove, also called as bear off, all his checkers from the board before his opponent removes all his checkers on the board. Since the checkers are scattered across the board, the game is made much more difficult and interesting by the fact that his opponent can block, also called hit, his movement.
Starting backgammon game
Before starting the game though, both players have to roll a dice each, and whoever receives the highest number gets to make the first movement, and the movement that he has to make depends upon the number that was shown on the two dices. Once he has made his move, his opponent then takes his turn by rolling the dices and making his move.
The numbers indicated on the rolled dices determine the number of points, also called pips, that the player has to move his checker. Remember, the checkers are to be moved from 24-point to 1-point, from higher-number to lower-number points, only.
Backgammon Rules
The rules of backgammon are as follows:
A checker can only occupy an open point, and what this means is that the checker can never occupy a point that is being occupied by two or more checkers of his opponents. However, he can occupy a point that his own checkers occupy.
As to the numbers that show up on the dices when they are rolled, they are considered as two separate movements. Let us say for example that a 2 and a 3 was rolled. Now, the player has two choices. He can either move one checker two spaces forward and the other three spaces forward; or he can also move one checker a total of five spaces forward, provided that the intermediate points are open. The intermediate points may be three to five spaces from the checkers’ starting point.
Now, when a player has rolled a double, this means that he can make a move twice than usual. So, let us say for example that he rolled two 3s. What this means then is that he has four 3s to utilize wherein he can move any of his checkers that he wants.
However, if it happens that he rolls the dices but could not move because his opponent’s checkers are blocking the points, then he is obligated to give up his turn and pass the dices to his opponents.
On the other hand, if he rolled the dices and found out that he has only one number that he can play, then he is obligated to play that number; and if he can play either number but not both, then he is obligated to choose the higher number.
Hitting the Blot
As stated above, a checker can never occupy a point occupied by two or more checkers of his opponents. However, he could occupy a point that contains only one opposing checker. When this happens, the opposing checker is then called a blot, and when a blot is hit, the blot will then be moved to the middle of the board, which is the bar that separates the two sides of the board.
Now, to remove the checker or checkers from the bar, all the player has to do is to enter it into the open point on the home board of his opponent, depending upon the numbers that showed up on his roll of the dices. Of course, the same rules apply that it should not occupy an already occupied point of the opposing checker. If no move is possible, the player who has a checker on the bar losses his turn. Furthermore, the checkers that he can only move are those that are found on the bar, and he can only move his other checkers once all the checkers on the bar are back in the game.
Bearing Off
When the player has all his fifteen checkers on his home board, then and only then can he start bearing off, but the checker will only be removed from the board provided that the rolled number corresponded to the point that the checker is occupying. For example, he rolled a two, then he can only bear off the checker found in 2-point, and so on.
It should be known though that the checker on a lower point may never be removed from the board if there are still checkers on the higher points. However, if he rolled a number but there is no checker on the corresponding point, then he could bear off a checker from highest point that his checkers occupy.
Whoever gets to bear off all his fifteen checkers will win the match.
We hope you enjoyed your backgammon information package and have good time playing backgammon game on the internet for real money and fun money.
