Gamesville.com - Help - How To Play Backgammon

Question 

How do I play Backgammon?

Answer

Moving Checkers Around the Board
Blotting
Game Options
Features

Moving Checkers Around the Board
To move a checker around the board simply click on it and drag it to the point you want.

When you use one of your moves, the die with the corresponding number will be grayed out, indicating that the move was completed.

Green triangles and circles appear throughout the game to help locate legal moves. These shapes appear after you roll the dice but before you move any checkers.

Place the mouse pointer over a checker and green triangles will appear above the points where checkers can be moved to based on the dice roll. If no green triangles appear then the checker cannot be moved.

Similarly, placing the mouse over a point on the board and green circles will appear around checkers that can move to that point. If no green circles appear then you cannot legally move to that point on the board.

Blotting
When you blot your opponent, his checker is automatically placed on the bar. He must click on the checker on the bar in his next turn to place the blotted checker back on the board. If there are no points open, the turn is forfeited.

Game Options
When a host is setting up a Backgammon table, there are several options he can select that affect the game play. The default options - and their alternatives - for all tables are as follows:

Use forfeit timer. Players will be able to set the number of minutes each player has to complete a turn. The default time is set at 2 minutes.

Players switch sides after each game. After each game, the players switch sides of the table, turning the board and switching colors.

In addition to the default settings above, a host can also select these options for his table.

Use Doubling Cube. Players have the option of doubling the stakes and the additional options below.

Choose to use Automatic Doubles, Beavers, Raccoons and Jacoby Rule. These options are available when the "Use doubling cube" option is checked.

These options can be saved from game to game by checking "Use these options next time I play a Backgammon game." Unchecking this item will restore the game defaults.

You can always view the options selected for the table by clicking the "Options" button on the lower right side of the screen. Once a game has started, the options selected cannot be changed until the game is over. Only the host can change the options settings between games.

Features

The following features can be changed during game play. Players may change them by clicking the "Features" button in the upper left corner. The changes take affect on the player's next turn.

Auto Bear-off: This allows the computer to bear-off all of a player's checkers automatically when possible. The player gives up control of the bear-off process. This feature is unchecked as the default.

Auto Play Forced Moves: This allows the computer to move a player's checkers off the bar onto open points when no choice is available. This feature is unchecked as the default.

Auto Roll: The computer rolls the dice for the player, without waiting for the player to click the "Roll Dice" button. This feature is unchecked as the default. When the player does not check the "Only if doubling is not possible" feature in conjunction with checking the "Auto Roll" feature, the player will not be able to use the doubling cube since the player must double before rolling the dice.

Only if doubling is not possible: This limits "Auto Roll" to when a player can't offer a double using the doubling cube. This occurs when the player's opponent has control of the doubling cube. This feature is checked as the default.

Auto End Turn: This automatically ends a player's turn after the player has moved his checkers, without waiting for the player to click the "Pick Up Dice" button. This feature is unchecked as the default.


Technical Problems

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