Common Tables Concepts

This is a quick overview of what you can generally expect from Tables games.

Tables: Each quarter of the board is generally called a table. Your home table is the one where your men start; your target table is where they bear off. Your “1 point” is on one end of your side of the table; from there, go around the table along your side, then directly across, then back in the other direction to get to your “24 point”, which is opposite from the 1 point. In most variations, one player is moving clockwise and the other counter-clockwise.

Play: On your turn, roll 2 or 3 dice, as the game calls for. Play this as two or three distinct movements – each die corresponds to moving any one man that far around the board. In modern Backgammon, you play mirror-imaged from your opponent. In the following games, direction of play varies. Unlike modern Backgammon, rolling doubles usually has no significance.

Bearing Off: Typically, you must bring all of your men around to the target table before beginning to bear them off. Once this is done, continue to roll the dice, bringing the men off the far end of the target table.

Blots: If a man is alone on a space, and an opposing man lands on it, the man is captured; the lone man is a blot, and the act of capturing is blotting. If two or more men are on a space, they are immune to blotting. The blotted man must be re-entered, usually by rolling a die to re-enter in that numbered space in the table where the man started. If that numbered space is occupied by two or more enemy men, the roll is wasted; if it is occupied by a blot, then the enemy man is taken and yours enters. You can not make any other moves until all of your blots are re-entered.

Winning: The winner is generally the first to bear all his men off.