Backgammon Basics
BACKGAMMON
It is a table game of chance done by two players who skillfully roll the dice and use the checkers or pieces on a special board. it was introduced in Europe by the Crusaders and has spread its popularity all over the globe. To date, it is developed by excellent players and has been a game of luck and skill.
THE BOARD
Backgammon board is a rectangular piece divided into two halves by the BAR. One half of the board is called the HOME/INNER table and the other half is called the OUTER table. The twelve triangles found therein is called the POINTS. Six points are located in each table (the inner and the outer). Each player begins the game by sitting on the opposite side of the board. Each player is assigned with checkers of different color in which the other is lighter and the other is darker.
PROCEDURE
The players must advance all their checkers to their own inner table or home table by moving them according to the dice rolled and then place them off from the inner table or home table. The checkers are moved from the opponent's inner table around the board through the two outer tables and proceeding to the player's own inner table. The first player to place off all of his checkers is the winner.
To begin the game, both players roll a die and the player who got the higher number plays first. The first player then roll again the dice and use the number revealed to move the checkers. In the process, players takes turns in rolling the dice and moving their checkers. Therefore, technique and strategies are developed to win the game
TO ROLL THE DICE
The players take turns on rolling the dices and moving their checkers. They joggle the dice onto the board and the numbers revealed is used to move the checkers to the points accordingly. For instance, if the dice rolled are 3,2 the player moves the checkers to the points correspopnding to the number, thus, the player moves the 3 points and then move again 2 points always in the direction of his home table.
If the dice rolled however, reveals two same number (e.g. 6,6) the player advances his pieces twice as many times. For instance, a roll of 6-6 counts as four sixes instead of two sixes, totalling 24 points instead of 12.
THE MOVES
The checkers are transfered frome one point to another "open" point. A point is said to be open when it is not occupied by two or more checkers of the same color. Therefore, a checker can only be transfered to a point which there is only one of the opponent's checkers. Otherwise, it is closed and no other checker may land on this point. A move is a HIT if he landed his checker in a point containing the opponent's checker. What if the opponent's checkers was hit, what would be the rules? In this case for instance, if Player A hits Player B's checkers then B's checkers will be placed off in the bar. Player B then should return it to play in player A's inner table before playing any other checker.
A player can remove off his pieces once they are all stacked in his home/inner table. If during this process, his checkers are hit, it must be placed off to the bar and moved around the board to his inner table before another process of removing off can start again.
Pieces are borne out from a point that matches the number pip in the dice. If the number thrown is 4 and 2 for instance, the pieces can be placed off from the point 4 and another piece can be placed off from point 2. In the event that the number in the die matches an empty point, the pieces from the next higher point is removed, for example Player A pip number is 5 and point 5 is empty, Player A should move his pieces from point 4 assuming point 4 is not empty. This is because removing the pieces from a point higher than the number pip, thus, Player A cannot move his pieces from point 6 if the number pip is 5 and his point 5 is empty because point 6 is higher than 5 and this move is prohibited.
In the process, if one player has not borne off a single checker, the said player is said to be gammoned and loses two games. Gammon means a player's victory by bearing off all his checkers before his opponent removes any. If however, his checker remained in the bar or in the inner table or home table of the opponent at the end of the game, then this player is said to be backgammoned.
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