Welcome to the realm of Backgammon. The game that has its roots in ancient Egypt, but always is modern and can be played online at king.com. The beauty of Backgammon is that when you win, it is skill; when you lose, it is just bad luck.Backgammon is a game with a rich history, dating all the way back to ancient Egypt. Do you have the strategic thinking, strong psyche and good luck required to become the King of Backgammon?

GAME RULES

When the game starts, the checkers are laid out as on the picture above. Regardless of which colour you are given, you will always move counter-clockwise on the board, and your opponent will move clockwise. Your home board is always the lower right part of the board.

Which player gets which colour and which colour begins the game is determined randomly, and the first two dice are thrown automatically. When it is your turn, you throw the dice (unless it is the first time and they have been thrown for you), and decide what move you want to make.

Moving: You can move your checker(s) as many steps as the dice allows. If you have thrown 5-2, you can either move one checker 5 steps and another 2, or move one checker 7 steps, provided that either the 5th or the 2nd point on the way were free. A free point is one that contains one or none of the opponent’s checkers, or one or more of your own.

If the dice show the same number, for instance 5-5, that means that you have four moves of five steps each to use. You must use all possible moves when it is your turn.

Hitting: If you move a checker to a point that is occupied by one of your opponent’s checkers, you “hit” it and it is placed on the bar in the middle of the board. Before your opponent can make any other moves, he must bring the checker(s) on the bar into play, starting from your home board. If no such move is possible with his dice throw, his turn is forfeit.

Bearing off: When you have moved all fifteen checkers to your home board, you can begin to “bear off”. This means that you will move your pieces off the board, one by one. If you roll the exact amount of steps you need to move a piece off the board, you may do so. However, if you roll a number higher than needed to bear off any of your checkers, you may use that move to bear off a checker that needs a lower roll to bear off. Example: You roll a 2 and a 5, and all your remaining checkers are three steps from bearing off. First you have to move one checker two steps, and then you can move another checker three steps, bearing off in the process.

Doubling: At any time during the game, any of the players can choose to double the stake. If the other player refuses to accept the double, he will lose the game. If he agrees to double, he will have two choices: He could either just accept the double, or he could redouble immediately, which is known as a Beaver. A player who has accepted a double gets the double die, showing that he is the only player that can propose another doubling of the stake (though giving so will give the double die to the other player). If a player Beavers, he still retains the double die. The current stake is always shown on the double die.

The timers: Make sure that you don't run out of time! You have two timers. One timer is renewed for each time it is your turn, and is indicated by a bar. The other timer is one extra minute that you can use for any turn, but it will not renew during the game. If both timers reach zero, you will lose the game as if your opponent made you Backgammon.

GAME CONTROLS

If you wish to end the game prematurely, just press End Game at the bottom of the screen. Doing so forfeits the game and you lose as if you were Backgammoned, meaning that the current stake is tripled. You can also toggle the sound On or Off.

GAME SCORING

STRATEGY

Try to occupy your own home board with as many checkers as possible, making it hard or impossible for the opponent’s hit checkers to re-enter play. Try to keep your checkers together in pairs, to avoid getting them hit.

Play Backgammon at King.com

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