Copyright (c) 2004-2018

Players start their checkers at opposite sides of the board, and take turns rolling a die and moving one checker on, across, or off the other side. The first player to get all their checkers off to SAFETY wins.

To start, place checkers at HOME and on the first and second spots for each player.

For the opening roll, both players throw their dice, and the winner gets to move a checker the difference between the dice. In case of a tie, roll again.

Only one checker is allowed on a board spot. A checker may land on an open spot, but may not land on a checker of the same color. If a legal move exists, a player cannot pass and must move a checker.

If a checker can land on a single opponent checker, it gets hit and is moved off the board back to HOME.

But when a player's checkers are next to each other on the board, they form a prime and cannot be hit. It is often a good strategy to gain and keep a prime, because it protects checkers and can cause the opponent's next turn to be forfeited.

In this position, the white player who rolls a 3 forfeits a turn because no white checkers can move 3 spots.

Any checker on the board may exit to SAFETY with a high enough roll; an exact roll is not needed. Thus the black checker on spot 4 could exit with a 4, 5, or 6.

A shutout is called a NANNON, and counts as two games. This rare event, when the loser has no checkers to SAFETY, is marked by the winner banging their fist on the table and shouting "NANNON!"

Because the games are short, they are usually played in a match, where the first player to gain e.g. 11, or 21 points is the winner. A single game counts for 1 or 2 points, times the (optional) doubling cube stake value.

Doubling is a lifetime skill which adds excitement to a match by allowing players to alternatively raise the stake of a single game as luck favors their position. NANNON uses the same doubling rules as Backgammon, you can read a primer at http://bit.do/ubling.


Printable PDF version