Backgammon Race: A Faster Variation

The backgammon race differs from a traditional backgammon game by its starting position. Rather than each player's pieces being evenly distributed across the board, all thirty pieces are placed along the middle bar. The backgammon fast play places greater emphasis on the element of chance based on the roll of the dice rather than a play based on strategy. During the backgammon fast play, pieces are moved along the board as usual even while some of the chips remain along the bar. This only changes, if a piece is captured. If this occurs, the rules are the same as in a regular game and the captured piece must be played off the bar before anything else can be moved.

Backgammon race is very similar to another variation to traditional backgammon known as Acey Deucey, which is essentially the same concept, all pieces start in the middle of the board. However, Acey Deucey incorporates the doubling cube, which may be used in playing for stakes or simply to attribute more points for each move during the game. The other difference between the backgammon fast play and Acey Deucey is the incorporation of re-roll for the player who rolls a double. Acey Deucey offers variations on the rules of how the game is played as well as its starting point while the backgammon race still uses the same rules of a standard game with a different type of starting point.

Essentially all backgammon games end as a race. Once all pieces are collected "home" each player must be the quickest via the roll of the dice to lift all the chips off the board before their opponent's. The backgammon fast play emphasizes this throughout the entire play of the game.