Backgammon Variant: The American Acey-Deucey
Backgammon is a board game played by two players who move checkers at the cast of the dice. Over the years, a variety of backgammon games have come up. One of them is the American version of "Acey-Deucey", in which a two-one roll gives the lucky player extraordinary privileges.
The American acey-deucey has five differences from the standard backgammon game. First of all, the checkers don't have starting positions in the playing area, they start off it. Second, the player who rolls one die higher than the other gets the first turn. The first player then has to cast the dice to start the play. Third, there's no doubling cube. Fourth, the gammon and backgammon stakes aren't used. Instead, the loser pays a point per checker that's not borne off. And lastly, the special privileges of the two-one roll are that the lucky player gets to name and play any double and then gets another turn to cast the dice.
Legal moves in regular backgammon still apply to acey-deucey. These are moving in barred checkers, advancing dice-rolled pips to open points, and bearing off when all 15 of a player's checkers are in that player's home board.
The tricky part in the American acey-deucey is how the two-one dice roll is played out. There are specific rules to its privileges as well. The special privileges are carried out if there are legal moves to the two-one roll. If only a pip move from only one die can be used, then the privileges are forfeited and the player only gets a normal play.
When the two-one roll makes legal moves and the player executes them, the player can then name a double. If all four moves from the double are legal, after they're made, the lucky player gets to roll again. But if not, the re-roll privilege is given up. For instance, if the player names a five for the double but only three of the four moves are legal, the player may make the three moves but isn't allowed to re-roll afterwards.
The acey-deucey variant is different from the standard backgammon game in five ways. Nevertheless, the rules on legal moves still apply. The two-one roll in the American acey-deucey gives extraordinary privileges to the lucky player. However, its benefits come with limitations. Unless the two-one roll has separate legal moves, all privileges are given up. And if the two-one roll moves are legal, but the not all four moves from the double after are, the opportunity to re-roll is gone as well.
