Movement

At the start of the game, each player rolls one die, and the player with the higher number moves first. The players then alternate turns, rolling two dice at the beginning of each turn.

After rolling the dice a player must, if possible, move checkers according to the number of pips showing on each die. For example, if he rolls a 6 and a 3 (noted as “6-3″) he must move one checker six points forward, and another checker three points forward. The same checker may be moved twice as long as the two moves are distinct: six and then three, or three and then six, but not all nine at once. If a player rolls two of the same number (doubles) he must play each die twice. For example, upon rolling a 5-5 he must move four checkers forward five spaces each.

A checker may land on any point that is either unoccupied or is occupied only by a player’s own checkers. It may also land on a point occupied by exactly one opposing checker; such a lone piece is called a blot. In the latter case, the blot has been hit, and is placed in the middle of the board on the bar, the divider between the home boards and the outer boards. A checker may never land on a point occupied by two or more opposing checkers, thus, no point is ever occupied by checkers from both players at the same time.

Medieval players, from the 14th century Codex Manesse

Checkers placed on the bar re-enter the game through the opponent’s home field. A roll of 2 allows the checker to enter on the 23-point, a roll of 3 on the 22-point, etc. A player may not move any other checkers until all of his checkers on the bar have first re-entered the opponent’s home field.

When all of a player’s checkers are in his home board, he must bear off, removing the checkers from the board. A roll of 1 may be used to bear off a checker from the 1-point, a 2 from the 2-point, etc. A die may not be used to bear off checkers from a lower-numbered point unless there are no checkers on any higher points.

If one player has not borne off any checkers by the time his opponent has borne off all fifteen, he has lost a gammon, which counts for double a normal loss. If the losing player still has checkers on the bar or in his opponent’s home board, he has lost a backgammon, which counts for triple a normal loss.



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