Short Backgammon: Tournament Game

Welcome to a single-player game of short backgammon, where you will play only against the computer and it's cool! Short Backgammon: Tournament is a two-player online game played on a board consisting of twenty-four narrow triangles called dots. The triangles alternate in color and are grouped into four quadrants of six triangles each. The quadrants are called the player's home and outer board and the opponent's home and outer board. The home and outer boards are separated from each other by a ridge in the center of the board called the crossbar. Each player has fifteen checkers of his color. The initial checkerboard layout is two for each player's twenty-four points, five for each player's thirteen points, three for each player's eight points and five for each player's six points. Both players have their own pair of dice and a cup used for shaking. A doubling cube with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 on its faces is used to keep track of the game's current rate.

How to play?

To start the game, each player rolls a die. This determines which player moves first and which numbers he uses for his first strike. If two players have the same number, they both roll the dice until they have different values. The player who rolls a higher number moves his checkers according to the numbers on both dice. After the first move players take turns rolling the two dice and making their moves.

The number on each die indicates how many points or pips a player has to move his checkers. Checkers always move only in one direction from a large number of points to points with fewer points. Each checker can only move to an open point. This is the first point that is not occupied by two or more checkers of the opposite color. Backgammon has no draw. If one player is the first to drop all his checkers, the second player loses, even if on the next roll all his checkers can be dropped. Play and practice Short Backgammon, knock your opponent's checkers off the board and enjoy the game! This game will help you prepare for other backgammon games with real people. Good Luck!