How to play Backgammon online
Backgammon was made for the paddle controllers, and the emulator switches to paddle mode automatically. Turning the paddle moves a yellow cursor around the board.
- Move the cursor, or a piece you are holding: left and right arrow keys
- Pick up and put down a piece: Space bar (the paddle button)
- Choose a game (1–8): F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Set-up mode on / off: F4 (the left difficulty switch)
- Roll your own dice: F9 (the right difficulty switch)
- Switch between paddle and joystick mode: Alt + L
Gameplay
The rules are standard backgammon. Each side has 15 pieces. You move them around the 24 points of the board according to the dice, gather them all in your home table, then bear them off. Whoever removes all their pieces first wins. A single piece on a point is a “blot”, and if your opponent lands on it, it goes to the bar and has to come back in from the start. In one-player games the computer plays red. It rolls the dice for you and won’t accept a move the dice don’t allow; if you can’t move at all, press the button to pass.
The number in the top left corner is the doubling cube. After a turn you can choose YESdbl or NOdbl with the paddle to offer a double, and your opponent then answers with YESacc or NOacc. Refusing ends the game. The stake can go up to 64 times the original. The colour of the number shows who owns the cube. The usual gammon and backgammon rules apply as well: if you win before your opponent has borne off any pieces, they lose double or even triple the stake.
Game variations and switches
| Game | Rules | Players | Doubling cube |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Backgammon | 1 | Yes |
| 2 | Backgammon | 2 | Yes |
| 3 | Backgammon | 1 | No |
| 4 | Backgammon | 2 | No |
| 5 | Acey Deucey | 1 | Yes |
| 6 | Acey Deucey | 2 | Yes |
| 7 | Acey Deucey | 1 | No |
| 8 | Acey Deucey | 2 | No |
In Acey Deucey, a variant the manual credits to US Navy sailors, all pieces start on the bar and can be brought in whenever you like. Rolling a 1-2 lets you play it, then pick any doublet you want, and then roll again.
For normal play, leave both difficulty switches in position A. With the left switch in B, a set-up mode lets you place pieces anywhere to practise a position. With the right switch in B, you roll real dice and dial the numbers in with the paddle.
Tips
- Build a wall in your home table. Six closed points in a row (a “prime”) stop your opponent completely, and a hit piece can’t get back in.
- Watch for the frozen-game bug. The manual warns that in one rare situation the cartridge accepts an illegal first move and then waits forever for a second move that isn’t possible. Use set-up mode (F4) to put the pieces back, or press F12 to restart.
History
Backgammon was one of Atari’s early board-game cartridges for the Video Computer System, released in November 1979 with box art by Cliff Spohn. Creative Computing thought it was excellent for someone learning the game, and the British magazine TV Gamer found the one-player mode fairly challenging. In his reference book on classic home video games, Brett Weiss later called it “user friendly and clearly defined”, but noted that the computer is not hard to beat.
Similar games to play next
- Video Checkers – Atari’s checkers cartridge, programmed by Carol Shaw
- Othello – another classic board game against the computer or a friend
- Video Chess – Atari’s chess cartridge with a computer opponent
- Casino – Atari’s card games, also played with the paddles