Backgammon Help

Description

Backgammon is a two-player game, played on a board of 24 narrow triangles called points. The triangles are grouped into four quadrants (holding 6 triangles each). Each player has fifteen pieces of his own color. The initial arrangement of pieces is shown on the figure below.

Aim of the game

The object of the game is move all your pieces into your own home board and then bear them off. The first player to bear off all of their pieces wins the game.

Playing the game

The starting player throws two dice (done automatically in the game). The roll of the dice indicates how many points the player is to move his pieces. The pieces are always moved forward. The following rules apply:

• A piece may be moved only to an open point, one that is not occupied by two or more opposing pieces.
• The numbers on the two dice constitute separate moves. For example, if a player rolls 5 and 3, he may move one piece five spaces to an open point and another piece three spaces to an open point, or he may move the one piece a total of eight spaces to an open point, but only if the intermediate point (either three or five spaces from the starting point) is also open.
• A player who rolls doubles plays the numbers shown on the dice twice. A roll of 6 and 6 means that the player has four sixes to use, and he may move any combination of pieces he feels appropriate to complete this requirement.
• A player must use both numbers of a roll if this is legally possible (or all four numbers of a double).

Hitting and Entering

A point occupied by a single piece of either color is called a blot. If an opposing piece lands on a blot, the blot is hit and placed on the bar.
Any time a player has one or more pieces on the bar, his first obligation is to enter those piece(s) into the opposing home board. A piece is entered by moving it to an open point corresponding to one of the numbers on the rolled dice.
If neither of the points is open, the player loses his turn. If a player is able to enter some but not all of his pieces, he must enter as many as he can and then forfeit the remainder of his turn.

After the last of a player's pieces has been entered, any unused numbers on the dice must be played, by moving either the piece that was entered or a different piece.

Bearing Off

Once a player has moved all of his fifteen pieces into his home board, he may commence bearing off. A player bears off a piece by rolling a number that corresponds to the point on which the piece resides, and then removing that piece from the board. A player is under no obligation to bear off if he can make an otherwise legal move.

Time control

A clock is used to limit the length of a game. These clocks count the time that each player separately takes for making his own moves. The rules are very simple, if you run out of time, you lose the game, and thus must budget your time.

End of the game

Winning

The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins the game.

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