Philos-Spiele Backgammon 3-1 set 44mm Game Instructions

: June 5, 2024
: Philos Spiele

Table of Contents

Philos-Spiele Backgammon 3-1 set 44mm Game
The Chess-board
To start the game
Taking Prisoners
Equipment needed for the game:
Start
End of the game and profiting
Contents
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

Philos-Spiele Backgammon 3-1 set 44mm Game

The Chess-board

The chessboard consists of alternately, black and white square fields (eight by eight) placed between the two opposing players so that there is a white square in the lower right-hand corner where the white pieces are set up.

The Pieces
At the beginning of the game, all 32 pieces are set up as in the diagram below. The basic set-up is always the same

To start the game

Who plays with which colour is decided upon “blind”. White always starts the game. Moves are taken in turn.
Moves of the Pieces

King One square in any direction. He cannot move into “check” or otherwise pass over a threatened square (as in castling).
Queen In any direction in a straight line, as many squares as is wished or as is possible.
Bishop Diagonally along a straight line as many as he wishes or as is possible. He stays on his starting colour.
Knight Two squares horizontally and one vertically or one vertically and two horizontally, in the shape of an “L”, forwards or backwards. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces, either ones own or his opponents’.
Rook Horizontally or vertically along as many empty squares as is wished or as is possible.
Pawn One square forwards. Only on the first move can one choose to move two squares. When a pawn reaches the start line of the opponent, the player must convert this pawn into another piece; queen, rook, bishop or knight. This happens independently of the piece still being present on the board

Taking Prisoners

All figures with the exception of the pawn take opponents in the course of their normal moves, stopping at the point where the opponent stood. The pawn can only take diagonally in a forward direction when moving one square. The speciality of the pawn is the en passant pawn capture: If after the starting position, a pawn makes a double move to be next to an opponents pawn, this opponents pawn may (not must) capture the pawn as if he had only moved forward a single square. En passant capturing takes place immediately after the double move. One move later, this right is no longer valid.

Castling
If the rook and the king have not yet been moved from the starting line during the game, and there are no pieces left between both of them, the player can
make a castling move.

Castling king’s side: The King moves two squares toward the king’s rook and it jumps over the king to its adjacent square.
Castling queen’s side: The king moves two squares towards the queen’s rook; this jumps over the king to its adjacent square.

Aim of the Game
All tactical considerations are directed toward getting the opposing King into “checkmate”. This means into a position out of which he cannot flee or otherwise be rescued by one of his own pieces through the taking of the threatening opponent or by blocking the line of threat. If he cannot get out of that situation then the game is lost and is so “checkmate”. A game is “stalemate” when neither player can win the game for himself.

Equipment needed for the game:

Board, 15 white coloured pieces (in the form of a disc) and 15 black ones, dice

Terminology:
Each player has an outfield and an infield on the board. The infield is also called the home field.
- Bar: Separation of the playing fields, the halfway line.
- Point: The (acute) point of a triangle on the board pointing toward the bar.
Aim of the game:
This is to bring home and remove one’s own pieces from the board. The first player to take all his pieces off the board is the winner.
Basic set-up:
Since there are different ways to play Backgammon only the most well-known basic rules are explained here. Pieces are shown in the following illustration in their starting position. White plays here from above right to left, then down the left and from there to the right into his home field i.e. anti- clockwise. Black moves in the other direction, clockwise. The given direction must be observed, moves in the opposite direction are not permitted.

Start

To start the game; each player throws one dice to determine who makes the first move. The player with the higher number begins. If both players throw the same number the procedure is repeated until one has a higher score. For the first move, the combined two scores of the dice thrown is used. Throwing the dice: After the start two dice are used for each throw. Both players take turns to throw and move. The dice must be thrown into each respective right- hand half of the board.

Move:
The pieces can be moved by the number shown on the dice thrown. One of two possibilities of move can be selected: One single move with the indicated numbers of both cubes added moving only one piece. In this case it must be noted that the numbers may not be simply added, the move must be split into two parts, one for each die, and an intermediate stop on a POINT must be possible. If the intermediate stop should be occupied by an opposing piece, then this move is illegal. It is up to the player however to select the order of the chosen die. In the other case the player moves with two different pieces. Example: Thrown dice give a 2 and a 5. It is up to the player now to move a piece either 2 and 5 or 5 and 2 or to move with two different stones in each case 2 and 5 points.

To consider when moving:
All POINTS may be occupied, with exception of those on which two or more opposing pieces are standing. In principle the player is obliged to move thus both thrown dice be played. If it is only possible to move the one piece, then the higher of the two die numbers must be moved. The lower number is forfeited. If no piece can be moved, the move is completely forfeited and it is the opponent’s turn.

Illegal moves:
If one player lays a piece wrongly, then the other player may require the correction of the move. The correction may take place only if the next throw has not already been taken.

Capturing pieces:
If a single piece is on a POINT, then this can be knocked onto the bar by the opponent by landing on this POINT or on making an intermediate stop. The captured piece is physically put on the bar.

Return of a piece into play:
A player who has one or more pieces on the bar is not allowed to make moves in the playing field until all his pieces have been brought back into play, this being into the opponent’s home field. Rules of return: Only if the piece on the bar can land on the unoccupied POINT in the opponent’s home field determined by the number on the dice thrown. If a single opponent’s piece occupies a POINT, it can be captured and so carried off to the bar during this move. If the player on the bar cannot make a legal move then this move is forfeited and it is the opponent’s turn.

Double:
If a double is thrown the player moves twice as many points as shown on the dice.
Example: If a player throws a two on each die then he has the option of different combinations. He can move 2 points along, four times with only one piece; or three times 2 points with one and with another piece once 2 points, or with two pieces two times 2 points and with another piece also twice 2 points.

“Bearing off”:
The bearing off may only be started if all 15 stones are in one’s own home field. Bearing off is done by each player clearing his own pieces from the board by throwing the necessary numbers on the dice. A piece is moved off the board if the score on the dice is high enough to carry the piece over the edge of the board. One may use a part of the throw or the whole throw also to move other pieces into the home-field instead of bearing off. This can be an astute move if the opponent still has a piece on the bar which could capture pieces and ban them to the bar. If a piece is knocked onto the bar while a player is bearing off, then he must bring this piece back into play and into his own home field again before he can continue with bearing off.

End of the game and profiting

Simple victory:
The winner is whoever bears off all his pieces before the opponent can clear his last piece from the board. Hereby the opponent could have cleared away several pieces.

Gammon profit:
The winner is the player who is first to bear off all his pieces whereby the opponent could not clear away any of his pieces.

Backgammon profit:
The winner is the player who is first to bear off all his pieces, hereby the opponent could not clear away any of his pieces and he still has one or more pieces on the bar or in the winner’s home field.
Note:
With some Backgammon versions a doubling cube is also used. The stake can be doubled during the game using this special die. This variant of the game and also the different tournament rules cannot be dealt with here

Moves:
The draughtsmen are moved diagonally forward by one single square in one move onto a free black square in the next row (moving backwards is not allowed yet). If the square is occupied by one’s own piece, the move cannot be made. If the square is occupied by the opponent’s piece, then this can be jumped over if the square behind is free in the same diagonal line. Pieces jumped over are taken off the board. It is also possible to jump over more than one opponent’s single piece if there is a square free to land on in the same diagonal line of the jump. If a draughtsman gets to the last line of black squares, then a second draughtsman is put on top of this whereupon it becomes a “Queen”. A Queen may be moved over any free squares, forwards or backwards. In the case of a jump, again a black square must be free on the other side of the jump, as when moving a single draughtsman. Compound jumps allow a zigzag pattern of jump. A Queen can be jumped over by the opponent’s draughtsman or Queen.

End of the Game:
The winner is the player who is the last to have pieces left on the board.