Backgammon is a very ancient and addictive game. One of the main and common options are long backgammon. They are recognized by the international community as a sports discipline, and official tournaments have been held for several years now.
Not many can boast not so much a good game of backgammon, but simply the ability to play, knowledge of individual rules. Here are the basic conditions, having mastered which, you can already quite competently play long backgammon and subsequently achieve a decent level.
The goal of the game in this type of backgammon is to complete a full circle with all the checkers (counterclockwise), enter the house (the last quarter of the board for movement) and throw them away before the enemy.
It is designed for two players. The tournament takes place on a special board, which is divided into left and right parts, where 15 drafts are located, and each player has a different color. The right to the first move is determined by throwing out one dawn (dice), the one who scores more starts first. If the number of points is equal, then throw the dawn again.
In the game "long backgammon", the rules make it possible to declare the opponent throwing invalid by saying the word "kestum" during the throw. When throwing, it is necessary that both tricks fall and lie steadily on one face in one half of the board. If this does not happen, then the throw is repeated. The amount of points drawn determines how many pips a player can move checkers. It is not permitted to make a move with two checkers per number per one die. If the same number of points (double, gosh, pash, jackpot) falls out on both zaras, they double.
It is allowed to put an unlimited number of checkers on one field, but you cannot put on the opponent’s cage. You can block the passage of the opponent’s checkers by building six of your checkers in a row. It is forbidden to block all 15 checkers of another player - at least one alien checker must go into the house.
If the player does not have a single variation of the move, then the points thrown out on the heels disappear and the move goes to the opponent. In the event of such a situation, when you can make one move, the player must choose the bigger one.
The initial position of the checkers when playing backgammon is called “the head” by the rules, therefore the initial move is called “take from the head”, and it is allowed to remove only one checker per move (the exception is the first move, where 3: 3, 4: 4 and 6 match: 6). If these combinations fall out during the first move, only two checkers may be removed. When the second player has more options for a dawn, with each option you can remove two checkers from your head. In addition to the opponent’s head, he will be prevented by those checkers that he has already removed: in the event that the opponent in the first throw rolls 2: 1, 6: 2 or 5: 5, then the second player removes the second checker also when throwing 5: 5, 6: 2 and 4: 4.
There are many strategic and tactical methods of the game, but the main thing is to capture more advantageous positions, ideally driving the enemy into a position in which he has no moves for some time - “Mars”.
At the final stage of the game of backgammon, the rules provide for throwing checkers off the board. This can only be done if they all came to the house. You can use the dropped points to move the checkers inside the house or throw them from the fields corresponding to the points at the dawn. If they are absent in high fields, the player can throw checkers from low fields.
There is no ideal move in backgammon; often you have to choose the best of several available options.
In a game of backgammon, the rules do not allow anyone to be a draw. The player who throws the last checkers out of the house is considered the winner.
Having appeared in the East, backgammon has become an international game. Backgammon got the existing rules due to the large increase in the number of fans of this wonderful game, multilingual, including Ukrainian - “the rules of the backgammon,” the translation of principles, tactics and strategies.