French Backgammon Variant

The French Backgammon variant is basically played very much like regular Backgammon games. The main differences from Backgammon are as follows:

1. The game begins without any checkers on the board.
2. The player that wins the opening roll can roll once more for his initial turn.
3. In the case that you roll doubles, you get to complete the roll as well and roll once more.

How to Play French Backgammon

In French Backgammon, every player begins with 15 checkers on the outside of the Backgammon board. Participants in this Backgammon variant put their checkers in the home board of their opponents. Then they move them all the way around the board, just like in regular Backgammon. In order to begin play, every player rolls a single die and the one with the higher roll gets to go first. That player can use the 2 numbers that were thrown or he can reroll. Afterwards, the players take turns.

A checker is entered by putting it in your opponent's home board in accordance with the number that was rolled. It is mandatory that all of your checkers are in your opponent's home board prior to beginning checker movement.

Players need to move their checkers in accordance with the points that correspond to the numbers that come up when they roll the dice. These are the rules of checker movement in French Backgammon:

1. A checker can only be placed on a point that isn't held by any of the opponent's checkers.
2. There are 2 dice in French Backgammon and the numbers on each of them signify 2 independent moves.
3. A player has to use both of the numbers that come up on a dice roll whenever it is possible. In the case that you can only play 1 number, you have to play the higher number.

Rolling doubles in French Backgammon is particularly beneficial. The following will clarify why this is so:

You get to play each number 2 times.

Next, you get to play the roll's complement, meaning the number of the roll subtracted from 7.

Afterwards, you reroll and if you get a double again, play it and roll once more.

In the case that you can not use any part of your roll, you lose whatever you did not use.

A blot is a single checker that occupies a point. If your opponent's checker winds up on your blot, your blot gets hit and is put on the bar. In this Backgammon variant, whenever you have at least 1 checker on the bar, your number 1 priority should be to get those checkers in your opponent's home board. The way to do this includes moving a checker to an available point that matches 1 of the numbers you've rolled. In the case that you succeed in bringing some, but not every one of your checkers, then you have to bring in as many as you possibly can and forsake the rest of your turn.

When every one of your checkers is in your home board, you can start to bear off. In order to bear off, you need to roll a number that matches the point that checker stands on and then take that checker off the Backgammon board. In the case that no checker stands on the point signified by the roll, you must make a move with a checker on a higher point. If the same goes for the higher points, then you have to take a checker off of the highest point with a checker.

2 main strategies are used when playing French Backgammon:

1. Blocking strategy: Try to create a prime out of all your checkers and move forward. You will have to separate the prime when you run into points that your opponent has blocked.
2. Running strategy: Try running several checkers around the board. This way you can block your home board points. Also have some checkers back in preparation to hit your opponent's checkers when you have the chance. In the case that you manage to hit some of your opponent's checkers, the points you have blocked in your home board can make his attempts to come in more difficult.

David Carnegy - Managing Editor