How to play Acey-Deucey.
Acey-Deucey is the backgammon game that starts on an empty board. All fifteen of your checkers wait off it, and a roll of 1-2 lets you name any double and roll again. This is the board game, not the card game of the same name.
Acey-Deucey at a glance
- Checkers
- 15 a side
- Start, from your side
- 15 waiting off the board, none on it
- Direction
- Opposite: you enter on your opponent's home board and go round to yours
- Doubling cube
- No
- Hitting or pinning
- A lone checker that gets hit goes to the bar
- Scoring
- 1 point a game, whatever the margin
1-2 names any double and rolls again.
A 1-2 is the roll everybody waits for. You play the 1 and the 2. Then you pick any double you like and play it, and if you got all four moves in, you roll again. Roll another 1-2 and it all happens again.
The catch is that every part has to play. If you can't use the 1 or the 2, you don't get to name a double. If you can play only part of the double, you lose the rest of it and the extra roll.
Acey-Deucey rules, in order of play
Set up. Nothing to set up. All fifteen of yours wait off the board, drawn faint on the bar.
Decide who starts. Each side rolls one die and the higher number starts, a tie rolling again. That player rolls both dice for the first turn.
Enter and move. A die enters a waiting checker on that point of your opponent's home board, so a 6 lands on their 6-point. You can enter or move, as you like, and waiting checkers may wait. Doubles play four times. Play both numbers if you can, and the higher one if only one will play.
Hit. Landing on a lone checker sends it to the bar, solid rather than faint. A hit checker has to enter before anything else moves.
Play a 1-2. Play the 1 and the 2. If both played, name any double and play it. If all four played, roll again. Any part you can't play ends your turn.
Bear off. Once all fifteen are in your home board, with none waiting, you bear them off. The first side with none left wins.
Three versions are in use: American, European and Greek. yayay plays the American one, the one that enters from off the board.
Scoring is our change. bkgm.com has the loser pay a point for each checker left, which is a money rule. Inside a match it could end things in one game, so here a game is worth 1 point. There are no gammons either way.
Acey-Deucey strategy
A few tips, not rules. bkgm.com's own advice is the first, and the others follow from it.
- Get at least half your checkers on the board quickly and form a blockade. That is the usual plan, and it's what the page on bkgm.com recommends.
- Think ahead about your 1-2. Keep your position so that both halves can play, or you lose the whole bonus.
- Name the double that helps your position most, and check it can play four times. A 6-6 that stops at three loses you the extra roll.
- Hold a checker or two back in waiting if your board is short of timing. They can enter when you need a move, but nothing bears off until they are in.
- Don't give up. A 1-2 can turn a game round, and bkgm.com says you are never completely out of it.
Where Acey-Deucey comes from
bkgm.com says the American version has been a favourite of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Merchant Marine since the First World War. The game seems to have started in the Middle East, it says, and English Wikipedia adds that its roots are believed to lie in the Middle East, Greece or Turkey. Jack Dillon's book How to Play Acey-Deucey dates from 1943. The name itself isn't explained there, beyond ace and deuce being the 1 and the 2.
Acey-Deucey questions
Is this the card game Acey Deucey?
No. A card game shares the name. This is the game played on a backgammon board with dice.
How do you play Acey-Deucey on a backgammon board?
All checkers start off the board. You enter them on your opponent's home board, bring them round and bear them off, as you would a hit checker in backgammon.
What happens when you roll 1-2 in Acey-Deucey?
Play the 1 and the 2, name any double and play it, then roll again if every part played. Any part that can't be played ends the turn.
Which doubles can you name?
Any of them, 1-1 to 6-6. You can name one that only partly plays, but then you lose the rest of it and the extra roll.
Can I play Acey-Deucey online for free?
Yes. Play Acey-Deucey now starts a game against a bot at once, with no signup. You can also play a bot or with a friend from the door and set the match length there.
Is Acey-Deucey rated here?
No. It is unrated and played without a stake, with no analysis afterwards, because GNU Backgammon can't read this game. It isn't in the rated queue, at tables or in tournaments.
Other games to try
- Tawula also starts with checkers waiting off the board.
- Hypergammon is another quick change from the regular game.
- Portes is plain backgammon without the cube.