Forum Archive : Rulings

Incorrect setup From:   Ken Address:   kbame@strongtie.com Date:   1 March 2004 Subject:   Rules question Forum:   GammOnLine 9 point match, I lead 7-2. My opponent and I each roll one die; he moves a 5-4. I then notice that the board was set up wrong (I swear, I only had one Guinness!). I ask to set up the board correctly, he refuses saying that the game has started and I must accept the current position. Match to 9, X leads 7 to 2 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | O O | | O O X | | O O | | O X | | O | | O X | | O | | O X | | O | | X | | | | | | | | | | X | | | | X | | | | X | | X O | | X X | | X O | | X X | | X O | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 We asked for a ruling from the TD who ruled in my favor. Would this same ruling have been made at a "major" tournament? Jason Lee  writes: From US Backgammon Tournament Rules (http://www.chicagopoint.com/usrules.html): 4.7 ERROR IN SETUP. An incorrect starting position must be corrected prior to the fifth roll of the game. Thereafter the existing setup becomes official. Players starting with less than 15 checkers in play may still be gammoned or backgammoned. JLee Daniel Murphy  writes: Where do you drink, I mean play, Ken? The US rule is standard. BIBA's rule 4.7 is the same as US rule 4.7. Ireland? Norway? Sweden? They have the same rule. Denmark's rule is that the position must be corrected before the THIRD roll of the game (that is, before the opener's second roll). The WBF rule is different: "4.7 ERROR IN SETUP - An incorrect starting position must be corrected prior to the fifth roll of the game. Thereafter the existing setup becomes official. The opponent of a player with more than 15 checkers may remove surplus checkers of his own choosing or require the player to finish the game with the surplus. The opponent of a player with fewer than 15 checkers (prior to the bear-off) may supply the shortage by placing sufficient checkers on the bar or require the player to finish the game with the shortage. Gammons and backgammons still apply." Huh? I can't parse all that removing-and-supplying-checker language. If you ever play in Slovenia, just make sure everything's correct before the first roll. Neil Kazaross  writes: I have played with 1 piece too few and two pieces too few. Once, in an important round in an ABT tourney a friend of mine forgot to place his 5 checkers on the midpoint thus playing with 10 checkers. No one realized until about 4 rolls per player had been taken. Somehow he lucked out and escaped his runners and wasn't hit and won the race with the cube on 2. ..neilkaz..   Did you find the information in this article useful?           Do you have any comments you'd like to add?

 

Rulings

Checker knocked off bar  (Chuck Bower+, Sept 2003) 

Clock rules and gin positions  (Chris Yep+, Dec 2007) 

Clock rules end of turn  (Jason Lee+, Dec 2007) 

Cocked dice  (Rodney Lighton+, July 2012) 

Cocked dice  (Ed Rosenblum+, Dec 2009) 

Cocked dice  (Chuck Bower+, July 2003) 

Cocked die on first roll  (Cloyd Laporte+, Nov 2006) 

Crawford game double  (Øystein Johansen+, June 2004) 

Crawford game double  (Joe+, May 2004) 

Crawford game double  (Raccoon+, Sept 2003) 

Crawford game double  (Claes Thornberg+, Apr 1998) 

Dice sliding  (Chris Yep+, Dec 2007) 

Disagreement on final cube  (Chuck Bower+, May 2004) 

Disagreement over cocked dice  (DeaconBlue+, May 2005) 

Disputed roll  (Roland Scheicher+, Mar 2004) 

Disputed roll  (Chuck Bower+, Mar 2000) 

Doubling to wrong value  (Stein Kulseth+, Nov 1998) 

Equipment changes  (Jason Lee+, Feb 2004) 

Error in setup  (Stick+, Dec 2007) 

Incorrect setup  (Ken+, Mar 2004) 

Kibitzing  (Ilia Guzei+, Feb 2006) 

Misplaced cube  (Ned Cross+, Mar 2004) 

Misplacing a checker off the board  (Sam Pottle+, Apr 2006) 

Misplacing a checker on the bar  (Jeb Horton, Dec 2002) 

Moving checkers before you roll  (Gregg Cattanach+, Mar 2006) 

Moving with two hands  (Jason Lee+, Jan 2011) 

Opening roll loser picks up his die  (Chuck Bower+, Oct 2007) 

Playing to wrong match length  (Klaus Evers+, Jan 2006) 

Playing to wrong match length  (Marty Storer+, Mar 2005) 

Playing to wrong match length  (Steve Mellen, Feb 1998) 

Playing wrong opponent  (Hank Youngerman+, Oct 2005) 

Premature actions  (Raccoon+, Feb 2008) 

Premature roll  (Chris Yep+, Dec 2007) 

Repositioning dice without notice  (Chuck Bower+, Oct 2007) 

Rerolling cocked dice too quickly  (Raccoon+, Nov 2006) 

Rolling 2 dice instead of 1 to start  (Bob Koca+, Oct 2007) 

Rolling when opponent is closed out  (Raccoon+, Nov 2006) 

Rolling wrong dice  (TarHeelFan+, Sept 2005) 

Taking photos of positions  (Stick+, Dec 2007) 

Touching the doubling cube  (Ken Bame+, Nov 2006) 

Touching the doubling cube  (Chuck Bower+, Apr 1998) 

Two cubes on the board  (Jason Lee+, July 2005) 

Video dispute resolution  (Jason Lee+, Feb 2006) 

When are the dice "up"?  (Ilia Guzei+, Feb 2006) 

Writing down positions  (Klaus Evers+, Jan 2006) 

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