Backgammon Objective:
The objective of playing backgammon is for you to bring all your checkers, Black or White to your side of the home board, you can then begin to remove all of them from the board, which is known as "the bear off game" phase. The first player to bear off all of his or her checkers wins the game....
The start of Backgammon:
When starting a game of backgammon, every player throws a die, the player that throws the highest number starts first. If players throw equal numbers, then both players will keep on rolling their die until they roll different numbers. After having done all of that, players will then throw 2 dice each time during the course of the game. Now in most matches the winner after the last game gets to play first, but this is not always
put into effect....
Moving the Checkers:
After having thrown the dice, add up the amount which indicates how many points a player must move his or her checkers on the board. By no means can you move a checker backwards, the only move a player can make is forward to their own home boards, which means the black and white pieces are always going in opposite directions around the backgammon board....
A few rules are to be taking into consideration when moving checkers:
Firstly the numbers on your two dice represent two separate moves. Eg: you roll a 5 and a 3, you may move one checker 5 spaces to an open point, the other checker 3 spaces to an open point, or your checkers can be moved a total of 8 spaces to an open point.
Your checker can be placed at any point that has an open vacancy or even one that is occupied by one of your own checkers, you can even move to a point that has no more then 1 of your opponent's checkers on it. Which means, 2 or more of your opponents checkers are occupied is considered a block for you. So in other words if you roll the dice and the same number comes up eg: a double, you have the option to move the pieces twice. The more doubles you throw greater your chances are of winning the game.
Hitting a blot:
One checker on a point is is referd to as a blot and can be attacked by the opponent. Checkers with different colors may not take over the same point. There for a blot is removed when you land on it with one of you opponents pieces, which is also known as a hit. The blot is then removed off the board and moved to the bar, and remains out of play until the checker has been entered into your opponent's inner board. You have the option to re-enter your checker from the bar only if, once you have rolled your dice and the numbers appear on it match a point which is not in use by two or more of your opponent's checkers. If there are no points open on the board the player loses his turn to roll.
Doubling cube:
This is a dice that have the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 & 64 appearing on them, it is used for raising the stakes in backgammon tournaments as well as matches. The doubling cube can be used at any time of the game, Any player who feels lucky and has an advantage over his opponent, can suggest doubling the stakes. This can be done when its his turn of play & he has not rolled the dice yet. When a player wants to double, he places the doubling cube with the numbers 2 facing up. Your opponent has the option to either refusing the offer by resigning, thus losing the game or he can accept it the doubling.
Your opponent is now the owner of the doubling cube because he accepted the offer, which means he is the only one who can double the stakes again, but now he can place the doubling cube with the number 4 facing up.
Bearing off:
This is the final stage of a you backgammon game, the remove of all your pieces from the home board.To kick this action off, all of your fifteen checkers should be in the home board area. This apply's to normal moves as well. You bear off according to your roll of the dice, which is always from the highest occupied point in your home table. During this stage of process, you might come across a situation where by there is no checker on the point indicated from the roll. To solve this situation the player must make a legal move by using a checker on a higher point. If there are no more checkers on any of the higher points the player is allowed to remove a checker from his highest in use point.
Win the game:
The player who bears all of his checkers off first is the winner of the game.
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