Playing BG for money

leonardo · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 17

Over the last few months I have been playing backgammon a couple times a week with a guy from my local pub. He brought up the idea of playing for money, which seems like it could be exciting. The only thing is, he told me about a rule that states that a player can double the stakes at any point in the game and if the other player doesn’t accept he must forfeit the game! I had never heard about anything like this before… Is this a real rule?

Kleinman · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 14

This is in fact a real rule. It’s known as doubling and can actually make backgammon for money much more exciting! The rule states, as you said, that at any point in the game a player may double the stakes. The opposing player must either accept or forfeit the game. If the opposing player chooses to accept, he may immediately re-double (this is called a beaver) or he controls the dice until he chooses to re-double (if he chooses to re-double). Doubling is kept track of by a doubling cube, which is a die that is numbered with 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 instead of one through six.

Usually a match of backgammon begins at one point per game. Doubling in a game will bring the stakes up to two points. Re-doubling brings the stakes up to four, then eight and so on.

As I said, doubling can make the game much more exciting, but make sure you start with small stakes until you get used to it so that you don’t accidentally lose more than you had intended.