Backgammon is an intense, exciting two-player game that has been quite popular in casinos in the past couple of centuries. One of the betting games that many wealthy gentlemen enjoys in the luxurious environs of their exclusive clubs and gaming rooms, backgammon has also seen a surge in its popularity among the ordinary masses of people when it made its way to more accessible and more affordable online casino gaming sites.
The online game of backgammon, while best played between two players, is nonetheless very exciting. Like other online games, who wins it is always partially dictated by luck-after all, a throw of the backgammon dice, or its online game equivalent, is arbitrarily decided. However, players in both brick-and-mortar and online games of backgammon also know that a more skilled player who understands the game and knows a lot of strategies have a greater chance of winning.
Thus, for beginners who wish to learn the rules by which a player wins and/or loses, here are a few basic tips to playing online backgammon games based on the rules used in real-life counterparts.
1. Master how checkers can move during the game. Have an arsenal of smart checker moves ready for any backgammon game by knowing which checker movements are allowed. Among them are:
– numbers thrown on each die corresponds to two separate checker moves
– a player can choose to play the total of the dice roll numbers to move one checker or to play two separate checkers for the corresponding number result of each die
– a checker may be moved to any point within the board which is occupied by a player’s own checkers or to a point with no more than one opponent checker occupying it
– when doubles are rolled (meaning both dice came up with the same number), a player can double the amount shown by (a) moving one checker in spaces total of the doubled number, (b) moving two checkers twice the number of spaces on each die, (c) moving one checker double the number shown in one die, then moving two checkers each equivalent to the number shown in the other die, and (d) moving four checkers the number of spaces shown in one die.
2. Understand points. The rules of the backgammon board with regard to points are these:
– a point with two or more of a player’s checkers is called an “owned” or “made” board, and it cannot be occupied by a checker from the opposing player
– a player can put as many checkers as s/he wants in one point until it is full
– two or more points in a row is called a “prime” and is a very useful strategy
– six points in a row is called a “full prime” and can this can trap all checkers behind it until it is broken.
3. Blots and the bar. A blot is a single checker occupying a point. An player’s blot is removed from a point when an opposing checker is placed on the same point, a move called a hit. The removed checker is put on the bar separating the inner and outer boards. A checker in the bar will remain out of play until it can re-enter the opponent’s board. Re-entry from the bar can be made is a the numbers on the next dice roll is equal to a point that is occupied by no more than one of the opponent’s checkers. In cases of a “shut out” when the opponent owns all the board’s six points, no checker can re-enter from the bar, and the player has no choice but to let the opponent roll and move until he opens up one of the points.
4. Finishing with the bear off. This happens when at least 15 of a player’s checkers gets to the home board and the starts to remove his/her checkers from it. The first player to bear off 15 of his checkers wins the game.