the series is really well made, thank you so much for your time and effort... and lol about the time traveling remark! haha, keep up the good work

@JoseRoel96 No. Any checkers on the bar have to be entered on points in the opponent's home board that the dice roll allows before ANY other moves can be made. In this scenario, if black had two checkers on the bar with the 64, then he would enter one on the 4 point, and then have to wait until his next turn to try and enter the other, as the 6 point is blocked.

Stalemate is impossible in backgammon. In order for a checker to be put on the bar, it must first be hit by the opponent. By definition, that player must have been able to move to play the hitting move, and so couldn't have been "closed out". Also, players can't be indefinitely trapped behind primes, as rolls will eventually force players to move pieces in their primes.

Okay... NOW it's getting fascinating!

love how you said the miracle of time travel or in this case video editing. xD

great guide i m new wanted to understand how its played u give a great demonstration great job

Really appreciate your tutorial style :-) I can finally play this game gifted to me at xmas!

That's terrific to hear, thanks :) I hope the game gives you plenty of enjoyment.

Good video Nicelt done. Thanks for your patience in explaining. It is very useful for me. I learnt the game with your series.

@JoseRoel96 Right, because if black had another checker on the bar, and he's already used the 4 to enter, only the 6 remains, and the 6 point is blocked. Therefore, he has to wait for his next roll.

@zorac91 In standard Backgammon rules, a point can hold any number of checkers, from 0 all the way up to all 15. There is also a variant rule, called the Egyptian Rule, played in some places, that limits the amount of checkers on a point to a maximum of 5.

@KripDrip Backgammon does have its share of unusual terminology, like many other sports and games, and exact origins of the terms can be difficult to pinpoint. Many say that "Dancing" refers to the arm movement of a player, reaching to re-enter his checker, only to have to withdraw it upon realising the numbers don't permit it. It may just refer to the checker "dancing" about on the bar, rather than productively entering the game.

Fantastic instructions thank you! If a player was on the bar and he threw his dice allowing one checker to come out but the second dice doesn't enable a checker to move, does that player stay on the bar or...

yeah :) thanks for all the efforts though

hi excellent videos thanks for posting. I just wondered if I had a checker on the bar and rolled a 4 2 can I not use both moves on the checker re entering ftom the bar or only one of them ?? many thanks

Hi. Yes, that would work in the same way as hitting, putting the opponent's checker onto the bar.

@thegoonist Yep, once black had entered on the 4 point, he could play the six as he wished. The red checker on red's 10 point could be hit.

Thank you so much. Perfect level of detail. One question about re-entry... If I reenter on a point that has only one opponent checker on it is it considered a hit?

Sorry for re-posting a previous comment reply, but the answer still works Backgammon does have its share of unusual terminology, like many other sports and games, and exact origins of the terms can be difficult to pinpoint. Many say that "Dancing" refers to the arm movement of a player, reaching to re-enter his checker, only to have to withdraw it upon realising the numbers don't permit it. It may just refer to the checker "dancing" about on the bar, rather than productively entering the game.

Thank you for this. You explain it very well. In the example of the black being on the bar and a 6 and 4 is rolled, the black cannot enter on the 6 so must enter on the 4. (1:56 on the video): you mention that the 6 must be used somewhere else. I wonder if the 6 can still be used by the same black disk after it has entered on the 4? If so, it would then move up 6 and hit the one red disk on the sixth space and send it to the bar? So black can still use both the 4 and 6 to enter? Hope I haven’t made it confusing.

@Ensor42

2 жыл бұрын

Hello there. Yes, I'm afraid I was a little imprecise with my choice of words there. By "somewhere else", I was really meaning make another move using the 6, which could be with the same checker.

Eventually, black will get a chance to re-enter. Red will in time open a point in his home board, either when bearing off, or if red is especially unlucky, and fails to roll a 5 or 6 soon enough to escape his checker behind black's 4 prime, even sooner.

@jameslampert Resigning is common practice in competitive backgammon, and etiquette-wise is the correct thing to do in positions of certainty or very near certainty. However, margins and swings in backgammon games can be quite extreme, so it is right for players to pursue even very marginal victory chances. In this position, black would certainly NOT resign, even though he only has about 5% winning chances.

I could have explained the video in 5 seconds, but that too would have been missing the point of the total beginner friendly approach.

@Ensor42 thank you!

Can a player reenter if there is only one checker and hit the opposing player to the bar?

I thought 1 checker could move the total of both die effectively. Eliminating the blocked move when the 6 6 were rolled. Couldn't one checker move 12?

@Ensor42

10 жыл бұрын

Hi. Although checkers may EFFECTIVELY move the value of both dice, the moves are still separate. So, a roll of 5 and 6, although totalling 11, would only allow checkers to move either 5 THEN 6, or 6 THEN 5, meaning they could not pass a 6 prime.

if the black reentered with the dices 4 and 6, could he hit the red piece again using 4 + 6? to hit the red?

Is stalemate possible in backgammon? For example, both players have blocked all of their home points, and both players simultaneously have checkers on the bar. What happens then?

Hi. If you have the chance to reenter on top of a single enemy piece, do you hit it?

In minute 2:50, what happened next if he have 6 and 6?, you loose a turn because you cannot land your red chip?. But he can put the black chip on "number 12", or even in the "18" so he use 6 and 6, or six six and six, and have other pair of six or one 6 more to do other moves or one more move right, or not?. Thank you.

What would black do when dancing?

In this position, can black ever actually have another turn? Surely red would just keep playing?

Are you saying that if I cant reenter a piece my turn is over and i have to try on my next turn?

If one rolls a six and a five and the six is blocked as is the five, can one move one die eleven?

@TheImpossiBelle

7 жыл бұрын

Probably waaay too late to answer this, but for posterity's sake: no, as each die is a potential move on its own. When two dice are used to move one checker it can be easier to think of it as moving the checker six, then five (or five, then six). So while you can potentially move 11 spaces using both dice on a single checker, if the sixth or fifth space is blocked, you can only use one or the other rather than both.

You explained that there is a 35/36 chance of re-entering when only the 6 point is blocked however I think that is not exactly true. There are a total of 36 combinations possible, of which 6 are doubles. The remaining 30 combinations are however duplicated (meaning it doesn't matter whether you roll a 3-4 or 4-3, they are the same). So effectively you have 6+15= 21 possible combinations of a dice. Therefore your chance of re-entering when only the 6 point is blocked is not 35/36, but 20/21 which is slightly lower. Am I correct?

@Ensor42

9 жыл бұрын

Evert Clowting I'm afraid not ;-) though it is a quite understandable mistake. The thing is, that although duplicated numbers like 3-4 and 4-3 amount to the same thing as far as which moves they allow, they are still distinctly different rolls of two dice when considering the odds of any number being rolled. The dice are individual entities, hence there are 2 ways to get a 4 and a 3, and only 1 way to get a 6 and a 6.

@jacobrauenhorst9362

6 жыл бұрын

To find a probability you multiple 1/6 * 1/6 = 1/36 (the odds of rolling two sixes). Then you subtract 1 which =-35/36. It can’t be negative so you use the absolute value 35/36. So sadly you’re wrong but understandably so

Sorry 1:49 on the video.

Oh ok nvm

So, are u saying that when the black checker can not reenter. Then we need to wait for another turn instead of re-roll the dice over? i am sorry, I can't get the idea there.

@Ensor42

10 жыл бұрын

Yes, if a player is unable to re-enter their checker(s) on that turn, then they forfeit that turn, and must wait until their next turn comes in order to have another try to roll an entering number.

@lirisa1869

10 жыл бұрын

Ensor42 Aren't players technically allowed to double even if they are closed out?

@Ensor42

10 жыл бұрын

Yes, it would still technically be their turn, so they could still offer a double providing that they had control or access to the cube.

Why is it called dancing though?

So dance is a missed turn and not a second dice roll?

@Ensor42

10 жыл бұрын

Correct.

@homersimson1375

10 жыл бұрын

Also thank you for teaching me backgammon, my dad is middle eastern and backgammon is very popular in the middle east. Now once I buy a board we can play. :)

Are deaf people and hard of hearing forbidden to learn this game?

@Ensor42

4 жыл бұрын

There's no rule against it that I'm aware of. In a similar way that there's no rule that people who upload videos to try to help other people, are obligated to make provision for all accessibility requirements of any potential viewer. Would I have liked to cater to everyone with subtitles, or sign language? Absolutely. I had neither the equipment nor the facility at the time. My apologies.

Love his analogy but too, too much information. Just give the basics in simple terms.

you could have explained the video in 30 seconds...