Mexican Backgammon Variant

Mexican Backgammon is also a form of Acey Deucey, thus it is sometimes called Mexican Acey Deucey.

How does Mexican Backgammon differ from Backgammon?

• The player that wins the opening roll gets an extra roll for the initial turn.
• You must move the smaller number of a roll first.
• The maximum amount of checkers on a single point is 5.
• Following a double, you can reroll.
• Once you roll a Mexican, you can call and play any double you want, then reroll.
• You have to bear off your checkers exactly.
• Gammons, backgammons and doubling cubes have no place in this game.

As with all Backgammon variants, the object of the game is to get every one of your checkers to move all the way around the Backgammon board and bear the checkers off.

To begin play, every player rolls a single die and the player with the bigger number gets to play first. He can either use the numbers that came up on his first throw or roll both of the dice once more. Afterwards, the players take turns.

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 Mexican Backgammon:

1. The smaller number has to be the first one played and if you can't play it, you miss out on your turn.
2. A checker can only be placed on a point that isn't held by any of the opponent's checkers.
3. There are 2 dice in Mexican Backgammon and the numbers on each of them signify 2 independent moves.
4. A player can only have a maximum of 5 checkers on a single point.

Doubles rolls are particularly beneficial. Initially, you play every number 2 times. Afterwards, you reroll and play it as you normally would, but in the case that you rolled doubles once more, then you get to use that number 4 times and gain another roll.

If you can't take advantage of the 4 numbers of your doubles roll, you relinquish the rest of the numbers and you won't be able to reroll.

A 1-2 roll is dubbed a Mexican. When a Mexican is rolled, the following takes place:

1. Play the 1-2 roll as you usually would, by beginning from the 1.
2. Declare which doubles roll you'd like and play it.
3. Roll once more.
4. If you rolled another Mexican, then you may proceed.

Keep in mind that in this Backgammon variant, if you can't make use of a certain part of your dice roll, you relinquish the remainder of your turn. Hence, Mexican Backgammon is a bit more complicated than traditional Backgammon due to the fact that the lower number has to be the first one played.

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.

Once every one of your checkers has reached home then you can start to bear off, but you must do so exactly, meaning that you can only take checkers off in accordance with the points that correspond to the numbers that come up when you roll the dice. In the case that you can't bear off, you have to make an additional move, preferably in your own board.

Furthermore, if you bear off every one of your checkers before your opponent, you win the Mexican Backgammon game. In addition, bonuses are not awarded for gammons or backgammons and the doubling cube is not used here either.

David Carnegy - Managing Editor