Pin Game Backgammon Variant

The most individualizing characteristic of the Pin Game, is that in this Backgammon variant checkers get trapped, not hit.

How does the Pin Game differ from Backgammon?

1. Every participant begins with 13 checkers on his opponent's 1 point and 1 checker on his 8 and 10 points.
2. The player that wins the opening roll rolls again for his initial turn.
3. Pinning is used rather than hitting, meaning that you can trap your opponent's blot with your checker.
4. The player that wins gets 1 point for every pip his opponent's checker has to pass in order to bear off. While gammons receive twice the count, backgammons get 3 times the count.
5. The doubling cube isn't used in this Backgammon variant.

Every participant begins with 13 checkers on his opponent's 1 point and 1 checker on his 8 and 10 points. Each participant moves his checkers in a direction which is the reverse of his opponent's. As in regular Backgammon, the goal in this Backgammon variant is to get every one of your checkers to encircle the entire board and bear them off.

In order to begin playing the Pin Game, each of the participants roll a die and the one with the higher number gets to play first. Next, the winner of the opening roll rolls both of the dice once more to begin his initial turn.

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 the Pin Game:

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 the Pin Game and the numbers on each of them signify 2 independent moves.
3. Doubles have to be played 2 times.
4. A player has to use both of the numbers that come up on a dice roll whenever it is possible, and all 4 numbers if doubles are rolled. In the case that you can only play 1 number, you have to play the higher number.

Although hitting is not an option in this Backgammon game, pinning is. In other words, if you find yourself on your opponent's blot (a single checker standing on a point), that blot will be trapped and immobilized until you move your checker.

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.

The player that wins gets 1 point for every pip his opponent's checker has to pass in order to bear off. In the case that the opponent hasn't managed to bear off any of his checkers, the total of his pips gets multiplied by 2 and he gets gammoned. If he hasn't managed to bear off any of his checkers, yet he has one of his checker's in your home board or at the bar, then the total of his pips gets tripled and he gets backgammoned.

David Carnegy - Managing Editor