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Normal Topic Backgammon rule clarification (Read 3054 times)
Paul
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Re: Backgammon rule clarification
Reply #3 - 02/14/17 at 05:11:29
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A player must always his two rolls if legally possible. If he can only use one, he must use the higher one.

I think if he can only use the lower one legally, he must do so. But I'm not sure.

So in the above game, white as to move the outer piece.
  
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Seth_Xoma
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Re: Backgammon rule clarification
Reply #2 - 12/29/16 at 03:27:39
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Thanks for the fast response! The little rulebook that I have did not cover this particular case.
  
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dfan
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Re: Backgammon rule clarification
Reply #1 - 12/29/16 at 03:12:42
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The rules on the US Backgammon Federation site (the most authoritative page I could find) say
Quote:
A player must use both numbers of a roll if this is legally possible.

It is legally possible for White to use both numbers of the roll. Therefore he must do so.
  
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Seth_Xoma
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Backgammon rule clarification
12/29/16 at 02:37:17
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Hi all! Wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous 2017!

Are there any backgammon enthusiasts among you? Over the holidays, I dusted off an old backgammon set and relearned the rules. I've got everything down (I think) but ran into a problem in the following position:



This was the situation (the exact home quadrant positions don't matter for our purposes). Both sides had gotten all their checkers into their home areas...all except two stranded dudes for both players. White rolled a 6 and a 3. The rules state that you must use both rolls if possible.

What is the correct interpretation of the rule? White cannot make a six-space play here. However, he definitely can move a checker 6 spaces IF he moves one of his stranded checkers 3 spaces first. Obviously he does not want to do that here.

What should happen? Can White make a safe play of 3 spaces in his home quadrant and skip the six? Or must he break up his stranded checkers and hope that Black does not hit on the follow through?

In our game we decided to play it as though White could not make a six play. It evened out, as Black immediately rolled a six on his turn so both sides had a chance to "cheat"!
  
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