Advanced Backgammon Rules
Backgammon is a game that involves skill, strategy and a bit of luck. Playing online Backgammon could be a simpler way for players to learn the concepts and rules of the game since usually online Backgammon sites do not let players to do anything outside of the rules of the game. This is something players might be able to do accidentally when learning on a Backgammon board face to face. But, no matter of the way you choose to play, it is important that they have knowledge of the basic and the advanced Backgammon rules. To fully grasp the more advanced rules, players first need to get an understanding of the more simple ones.
Summary of the Basic Backgammon Rules
(see the complete version of Basic Backgammon Rules for more details)
The Backgammon board looks the exact way no matter if you play online or using a real board. There are 24 points on the Backgammon board which are like narrow triangles. Each 6 triangles form together a quadrant and the colours of the triangles change. Each player has their own part of the board.
Players arrange the board, and after that they need to decide who goes first by rolling the dice. The player with the higher number starts first. The first player must play the dice combination rolled by both of them when they determined the one who starts. In Backgammon, each die must be played individually whenever possible. As they move around the board, players are not able to move to any position that already has two or more of their opponent’s checkers on it. This is how strategy gets involved while one player tries to block the other from succeeding. The goal is to get all checkers to the home board and then take out the checkers from the board completely by bearing off, which means to roll the dice and get the number that matches the point that a checker is being placed on. There is little strategy involved once players get to the stage of bearing off.
Betting in Backgammon is done with the help of the doubling cube. Players may raise the stakes before they roll the dice any time it’s their turn. However, the other player is able to decline the raise. Usually there no limit to how many times the stakes can be doubled in Backgammon unless players have set a certain limit before the start of the game. The doubling cube has numbers on each side that correspond to the stakes to keep track of betting. At the start of a game it is always shows 64, although the stakes aren’t doubled.
Advanced Backgammon Rules
Players that have a basic knowing of the backgammon rules discussed above can move into learn about the more advanced rules. Some of them are an option when playing backgammon on the internet or on a real board. layers have the possibility of deciding whether they would like to put some of the rules into play or not. When playing online backgammon, these options can be chosen when setting up a new table and setting the options.
Beavers
If one player doubles using the doubling cube, and his opponent accepts the double and decides his position is good enough, he may instantly redouble while keeping possession of the cube. This instant redouble without having to give up the cube is called a beaver. Beavers are optional and players should agree with each other beforehand whether or not they are going to use this rule.
Raccoons
This backgammon rule works similarly to Beavers and allows players to redouble the beaver right away and this way “raccoon” you
Crawford Rule
When the Crawford rule is in play, the doubling cube is not used when a player is one point away from winning the entire match. This means that stake cannot be raised for one single game in the match. However, once that rule has been used, the next game of the match resumes with the normal use of the doubling cube. This rule only applies when players are playing Match Play and not a Single Game.
The Jacoby Rule
The Jacoby Rule motivates players to use the doubling cube because if the doubling cube has not been used at least once during a game, gammons and backgammons do not count. This rule can also speed up the end of a game when one player has a distinct advantage over the other.
Specific Rules for Online Backgammon
For backgammon online there are a couple of specific rules that deal with technological need. Players that would like to resign from a game for any reason, have the option to do it, but only when the opponent accepts the resignation. A player who resigns either a single game or a match can only do so if the result of the game is certain (meaning the player that resigns has no hope of winning the game). If the resigning player resigns as a gammon, twice the number of points are lost, or if he resigns a backgammon three times the points are lost.
Since playing online backgammon sites may sometimes result in disconnects, most online backgammon sites have specific policies in place to address this. Many offer of them offer to the players 2 minutes to reconnect and then they capable to resume the game straight away. Any longer than that and the game is considered lost.
About the Author
Nikolay is a computer sciences student from Bulgaria with more than 5 years of experience in poker & backgammon. I try to incorporate techniques from that industry into online backgammon to make it as popular as possible. I play backgammon for fun or money as it is an astonishing game.
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