Have you ever heard of Edmond Hoyle? The guy who in 1744 wrote about the game of Backgammon? No, you say, you haven’t? Me neither, but it’s a fun trip down memory lane. I can’t help but wonder what a guy like Mr. Hoyle would think of the way they run the numbers for analyzing backgammon nowadays?
My favorite part of this fascinating look down Memory Lane? How about #3?
Enjoy.
Christine Merser, Co-Founder, Women In Backgammon
The Laws of Back-Gammon
1st, If you take a Man from any Point, that Man must be played; the same must be done if 2 Men are taken from it.
2nd, You are not understood to have played any Man, till you have placed him upon a Point and quitted him.
3rd, If you play with 14 Men only, there is no Penalty attending it, because by playing with a lesser Number than you are entitled to, you play to a Disadvantage, by not having the additional Man to take up your Tables.
4th, If you bear any Number of Men, before you entered a Man taken up, and which consequently you were obliged to enter, such Men, so born, must be entered again in your Adversary’s Tables, as well as the Man taken up.
5th, If you have mistaken your Throw, and played it, and if your Adversary has thrown, it is not in your or his Choice to alter it, unless both Parties agree to it.
