How to Play Backgammon

 

It takes two players to play backgammon, using luck and rolling the dice.

The game is set up on a board with 24 narrow alternated color triangles, divided into four quarters which include 6 triangles each. Every quarter is considered a player's and the rival's "home board" and "outer board". What separates these boards one from another is called a "bar", which is a ridge located at the center of the board.

Every player receives 15 checkers of one color.

According to the backgammon rules, the goal of the game is for a player to move all his checkers into his "home board", and later move them out of the board. The winner of the game is the one who takes out all his checkers first. 

On every turn, a player tosses two dice and moves the checkers according to the sum of numbers on the dice. The checkers must move in the direction of the player's "home board". A checker cannot move to a point which is occupied by at least two of the opponent's checkers.

Numbers on the dice indicate two separate moves . For instance, if the dice show 4 and 1, the player can move one checker 4 spaces and the other checker one space, or he can move only one checker 5 spaces, but this is impossible if one of the midpoints is occupied. In case the dice show a double , the player may move his checkers twice, that is, to move four times according to the number on the dice.

If during the game, one checker stops at a space which is occupied by one checker of the rival player, that checker is considered " hit " and you place it on the middle of the bar . The first thing to do for a player who has a checker on the bar is to re-enter it into the opponent "home board". In order to enter a checker, you should place it on an open space in accordance to the numbers on the dice. If there is no open space, the player misses his turn.

After moving all of the 15 checkers into one's "home board", the player can start taking them out of the game, and this action is named "bearing off". The way to "bear off" a checker is by rolling a number which fits the space on which the checker is on. In case the checker is "hit" in the process of " bearing off ", the player has to return that checker to his ?home board? first. The winner of the game is the one who "bears off" all 15 checkers.

Eventually, would the losing player not succeeded in "bearing off" not even one checker, he is the " gammoned " one his loss is double. Worse than that is in a case where the losing player did not "bear off" any checkers at all, and has one on the bar or in his rival's "home board"? then he is "backgammoned" and his loss is triple.