Brian Byfield - Learn Backgammon in 10 Minutes: The Quickest Way to Learn the Game

First published in the United Kingdom in 2013 by Batsford
An imprint of Anova Books Company Ltd
10 Southcombe Street
London
W14 0RA
www.anovabooks.com

Copyright Batsford 2013
Text copyright Brian Byfield 2013
Cartoons Gray Jolliffe 2013
Backgammon boards copyright Catherine Byfield 2013

The moral right of Brian Byfield to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

First eBook publication 2013
eBook ISBN: 9781849941235

Also available in paperback
ISBN: 9781849940597

Introduction

Backgammon is a racing game. A race made more exciting because each player will be trying to win the race and, at the same time, to stop and block their opponent. It is a board game of odds and calculations with many twists and turns. A gambling race played with dice for money. You dont have to play for money, but its more fun if you do.

The objective is to get you playing as quickly as possible. To begin with you dont need to know every single rule, procedure or matter of etiquette you can learn those as you go along. Right, as weve only got ten minutes, lets get started.

Although backgammon looks complicated, its an easy game to learn. Fast, fun and a wonderful workout for the brain. Good players skilfully arrange for lady luck to be on their side; top players see the board, both its dangers and its many possibilities.

Backgammon is a game for two players. Each player has 15 checkers, which they move according to the roll of their two dice. The aim of the game is to move all your checkers around and off the board before your opponent. The game is played on a board, which comes in its own box. Hopefully, you have one in front of you.

The board has 24 narrow spikes called points.

Their colours alternate to make counting easier.

The board is separated by a ridge down the centre called the bar; on the board both players have a home board, and each point is numbered from 1 to 24.

This is how the board is set up to start the game.

Each players checkers are a mirror image of the other. Each player has five checkers on the 13 point, five checkers on the 6 point, three checkers on the 8 point and two checkers on the 24 point.

Blacks point numbers are inverted, so Whites 24 point is his 1 point, and Whites 17 point is his 8 point and so on.

Dont worry about Black at the moment, because we are concentrating on you, and in this book you will always be playing White.

Each player has a dice cup and two dice.

To decide who goes first, both players throw one of their dice. If they throw the same number, they throw again. The highest throw wins. Lets say, you threw the highest, so you get to go first. You will be White and you will move anti-clockwise into your home board. Black will move clockwise.

You now move your checkers according to the numbers thrown. For instance, if you had thrown a six and your opponent a four, you can move one checker six points (spaces) and one checker four points. Or you can you move one checker ten points (six plus four).

After that, each player throws both dice and moves their checkers alternately.

Lets say you are playing White and throw a three and a one. If you moved one checker from point 8 to point 5, and another checker from point 6 to point 5, it would be recorded as 8/5 6/5. Your board would now look like this:

You can move to any open point, any point occupied by your own checkers or any point with one of your opponents checkers. You cannot land on a point where your opponent has two or more checkers. If you can move to a point where your opponent has one checker only (called a blot), you can knock her checker off the board. This is called hitting.

In the following example, depending on your throw, you can move your white checker to any point in your home board, except 5. You can also hit Blacks checker on point 4.

When a player has been hit, her checker is placed on the bar in the centre of the board.

When you hit your opponents checker, your checker will occupy that point.

A player with a checker or checkers on the bar must move her checkers back on to the board before she can move any others. To get back on to the board the player must throw a number that allows her to occupy a point or hit her opponent. Remember, she cannot land on a point where there is more than one of her opponents checkers.

Rolling Doubles

If a player rolls doubles, lets say two sixes, he can move four sixes. If the roll is two and two, its doubled to four twos, and so on.

Hit and Run

If you hit your opponents checker, you are allowed to run for safety.