Forum Archive : Rules

Pick and pass and bearing off From:   SimonW Address:   bozzzza@lycos.co.uk Date:   2 January 2005 Subject:   Newbie question on rules Forum:   rec.games.backgammon Google:   cr8q5u$1t8$1@titan.btinternet.com If you move and land on a blot and hit the opponents counter, can you then move your same counter to another point dictated by second dice and standard rules? What are the rules when bearing off and a double is thrown? Am I right in thinking when bearing off and a six and a five is thrown, for example, and I only have two counters on point four I can bear them both off? Fergus  writes: Hi Simon, > If you move and land on a blot and hit the opponents counter on the > bar, can you then move your same counter to another point dictated by > second dice and standard rules? Yes. The moves for each dice value are considered as separate even when it's the same piece that is moved. There's no obligation to hit the blot and one of the skills is learning when to pass up the temptation and jump over it instead. When playing online and against computer programs it's common for the higher dice to be used first when you click a piece. This is by no means obligatory - use whichever order suits you. Welcome to Backgammon. Fergus David Ullrich  writes: > What are the rules when bearing off and a double is thrown? The same as when not bearing off - a double 6 counts as four separate sixes. > Am I right in thinking when bearing off and a six and a five is > thrown, for example, and I only have two counters on point four I can > bear them both off? Yes, if you mean that those two men on the four point are the only men you have anywhere. The rules here are a little tricky: If you roll a 4, you can take a man off the four point _or_ move any man four pips, _or_, if you have nobody on the four point and nobody on any higher points, then you can take a man off the highest occupied point. Examples, supposing you're X and you roll a 65: +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+ | | | O | OO | | | O | OO | | | O | OO | | | O | OO | | | O | OO v| |BAR| | | | | | XX | | | | XX | | | | XXX | | | X | XXX Rolled 56 | | | X | XXX +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+ Here you can take two men off the four point with 65, because there are no men on the 5 or 6 points. +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+ | | | O | OO | | | O | OO | | | O | OO | | | O | OO | | | O | OO v| |BAR| | | | | | XX | | | | XX | | | | XX | | | X X | XX Rolled 56 | | | X X | XXX +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+ Here you can take a man off the six point with the six, but you can't take a man off with the 5, you have to move 6/1 with the 5. +13-14-15-16-17-18------19-20-21-22-23-24-+ | | | O | OO | | | O | OO | | | O | OO | | | | OO | | | | OO v| |BAR| | | | | | XX | | | | XX | | | | XX | | | X X O | XX Rolled 56 | | | X X O | XXX +12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+ This is the one that a person might misunderstand if he didn't read the rule carefully. You take a man off with the 6. Now you can't take a man off the five point with the 5 since there's no man there. You can't move 6/1 with the 5 because that's blocked. And that means that you can't play the 5 at all. You're not allowed to take a man off the four point with the 5, because you have men on the six point. David C. Ullrich   Did you find the information in this article useful?           Do you have any comments you'd like to add?

 

Rules

Bearing off question  (Colin Wiel+, July 2000) 

Can a beaver be dropped?  (Robert-Jan Veldhuizen+, Mar 2006) 

Can a beaver be dropped?  (Stein Kulseth, May 2000) 

Changing dice  (Julian Hayward, Feb 1998) 

Checker shuffling  (James Johnson+, June 2000) 

Gentleman's previlege  (Daniel+, Sept 2005) 

Hit and run  (Rich+, Jan 2000) 

"Illegal moves" rule  (Chuck Bower+, May 2004) 

Illegal plays  (Bob+, Aug 2002) 

Illegal plays  (Marc Gray, Nov 1995) 

Illegal plays that can't be condoned  (Matt Cohn-Geier+, Feb 2011) 

Is stalemate possible?  (Jan Andrew Bloxham+, July 1995) 

Jacoby rule  (Daniel Murphy, Dec 1997) 

Jacoby rule ambiguity?  (Chuck Bower+, Mar 2011) 

Jacoby rule--Good or bad?  (neilkaz+, May 2006) 

Legal roll  (Sture Lifh+, July 2004) 

Legal roll  (Gregg Cattanach, Oct 2001) 

Moving checkers unambiguously  (Timothy Chow+, Oct 2009) 

Moving checkers with two hands  (Michael Strato+, June 2000) 

Must a hit checker be placed on the bar?  (Dani+, May 2006) 

Pick and pass and bearing off  (SimonW+, Jan 2005) 

Play cubeless at 2away/2away?  (Raccoon+, Oct 2005) 

Repairing an illegal play  (Michael J. Zehr, Apr 1995) 

Resigning  (Bob Lang+, Aug 2002) 

Rolling on wrong side of board  (Ian Shaw+, Aug 2004) 

Rolling on wrong side of board  (Kit Woolsey, Jan 1999) 

Rolling on wrong side of board  (Kit Woolsey, Sept 1998) 

Rolling on wrong side of board  (Bob Hoey, Apr 1998) 

Rolling too soon  (TonyM+, Feb 2007) 

Rolling too soon  (Stephen Turner, Feb 1998) 

Rolling too soon  (James Grenier+, Sept 1996) 

Talking during play  (EdmondT+, Dec 2000) 

Touch-move rule in backgammon?  (Ken Bame+, Nov 2006) 

Touch-move rule in backgammon?  (Austefjord+, May 2002) 

U.S. backgammon tournament rules  (Butch Meese, Nov 1997) 

When do you give up your chance to double?  (Paul Epstein+, July 2005) 

When is a move over?  (JP White, May 2000) 

Overview  (Daniel Murphy, Apr 2001) 

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