How To Play Acey-Deucey Link to heading
A guide on the rules of acey-deucey, a variant of backgammon
Introduction Link to heading
Acey-Deucey is a variant of backgammon. It is believed to have originated from the Mediterranean Region and has been played on US naval and marine ships since the early 1900s.
Read about how to play backgammon if you haven’t played yet. Only the differences between backgammon and acey-deucey are explained below.
Setup Link to heading
Each player starts with 15 checkers off of the board.
Rolling Link to heading
Each player rolls one die to determine who goes first, just as in backgammon. After each player has rolled their die, whoever goes first then re-rolls both of their dice instead of using the die rolls each player made.
When a player rolls 1 and 2, if the player uses both the 1 and 2 roll, after moving their checkers they choose any of the possible doubles and continue to move their checkers using their chosen doubles. After moving their checkers once more, they then roll again. If a 1 and 2 is rolled again, and they use both the 1 and 2 roll, they may then choose doubles and roll again, and so on.
Movement Link to heading
Movement is the same as in backgammon. Players enter all 15 of their checkers onto the board starting at the furthest space from their home board (spaces 6-1).
Hitting Link to heading
Hitting is the same as in backgammon.
Bearing off Link to heading
In acey-deucey, players may only bear off using an exact roll. Players must also enter all 15 of their checkers onto the board before they may begin to bear checkers off.
-Trevor Slocum 2024/02/15