If you are new to the game of Acey-deucy, the following rules will help you get started playing this simple and fun version of backgammon. If you are a backgammon enthusiast, you can take a look at Acey Deucey and start improving your skills before taking on real opponents.
Acey-ducey shares many similarities with the common game of backgammon. Players start a game with the same number of checkers and dice. Two home boards on the backgammon board act as the destination each player wants to take their checkers to before taking them off the board completely.
However, the initial setup for checkers is different from common backgammon rules. Each player must place all of their checkers on the board instead of starting with them on the board as they do in backgammon. To place the checkers on the board, each player must roll two dice. The goal is to get doubles or Acey-deucey, which is when the pip count is one and two. When a player rolls an Ace-deucy, he must move one of his checkers one space and a second checker two spaces. He then receives another turn and must move twice (four times) the amount of his choice. A player must move all of his checkers onto the board before he can move those checkers that are already on the board.
For the purposes of this version of backgammon, a player must roll again each time he rolls a one and a two, or when he rolls doubles. However, there are several other variants of Acey Deucey. One of these stipulates that the player must roll the die again after making an acey deucy and use that number to dictate his doubles. Another variant says that if the player cannot move the full amount of doubles after rolling a one and a two, he loses his turn.
To make this game of backgammon even more difficult, players must roll an exact amount to get each chip. If you roll a six and a five, you can only move the tiles that are on your six and five spot, not a tile that is on your four spot. This rule can cause some finishes to bite their nails. Despite the variations acey-deucy offers on standard backgammon, a player must be the first to remove all of his checkers from his home board in order to win.
There are two versions of Acey-deucy that are commonly played; one American and the other European. The American version is believed to have been developed during World War I, where it became popular with sailors and navy personnel. The European version borrowed many of its rules from the American version. Both games are played just for fun, unlike the game of backgammon which is played regularly. The doubling cube found in backgammon is redundant in Acey Deucey and no points are awarded for backgammons or gammons either. Instead, the game is considered a pure game of skill due to the difficulties players must face in order to accurately draw and play all of their checkers on the board before they are allowed to move them onto their starting boards.
