What’s Backgammon and how should you play it in 2022?

One of the oldest board games in the world which has been very popular since 3000 BC is Backgammon. Nowadays we can play them on our laptops or PC and even on phones. This is a game of strategy and luck, which is very easy to learn.

 

What is Backgammon

  • Backgammon has 2 players, with fifteen checkers of their own colour.
  • Each player has their own dice and their own dice cups in this game. With the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 in the doubling cubes is used for tracking the stakes of the round.
  • There are 24 long alternative coloured triangles or craps which we call points or pips. The triangles are divided into four quadrants so we get six triangles each quadrant.
  • The player’s home board and outer board is made of four quadrants, and the other person’s home board and outer board. There is a divider down in the middle which separates the home boards and outer boards.
  • The starting point is 24 in the opponent’s home board and ending at 1 in the player’s own home board.

 

How to play

  • Each player has to roll their dice to start the game, the player with the higher number moves using both numbers rolled.
    • But both players cannot have the same number in the rolled dice, so if they land on the same number they have to roll the dice again until they land on a different number.
    • Both of the dice should always be rolled together and it must land flat on the right hand side of the gaming board, but if it lands outside or on a checker the dice needs to be rolled again.
  • The points in rolled dice determine how many checkers the player is supposed to move. Following the horseshoe path towards the player’s home the checker always moves forward.
  • An open point is when a point is not occupied by two or more opposing checkers. Here the two dice constitute two separate movements, like if a player rolls a 6 and a 4 then he can move one checker 6 spaces to an open point while another checker 4 spaces to an open point.
  • The player can choose to move the same checker twice, as each move is on to an open point.
  • If a player rolls two fives, he has to move his checkers five points, four times in any combination landing on open points.
  • Players must move both numbers rolled if possible.
  • If only one open point is available then the player must play the number which is one of the numbers that can be played. If two numbers are there and one can be played but not both, then the larger number must be played. The player loses his turn if neither number can be played.
  • If in the case of a double, a player cannot play all four numbers, then the player must play as many numbers as possible.
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Follow the horseshoe to win

The game’s objective basically is to move all of one’s own checkers to the home board and then remove all the pieces from the board completely while the players move their checkers in opposing directions following a horseshoe path.