Forum Archive : Etiquette

Direction of play From:   Ric Gerace Address:   rgerace@capecod.net Date:   12 August 2001 Subject:   Re: beginners question Forum:   rec.games.backgammon Google:   3b76fe05$1@rti-ns1.runningtide.com > What is "clockwise"? > And why do Snowie and JellyFish start playing in different > directions of play? What direction is usually used in tournaments? Clockwise is the direction your men will move from the back towards your home board. You can alter the direction of play in Snowie and Jellyfish, in their menus. Practice playing both ways until it doesn't matter to you. Then you never have to argue with anyone about which way to play, you'll see the board better, and you'll sometimes gain a bit of a psychological edge over someone who can only play one way. Ric Hank Youngerman  writes: As a practical matter, whichever way the first player to the table sets up the checkers is usually the way it is played. In theory, everything - which direction to play, whose board to use, which seat to have - is subject to a dice roll if the players disagree. Most experienced tournament players don't care and will let an opponent who has a preference choose the direction. David Ullrich  writes: If one player is playing clockwise the other player is playing counter-clockwise. Years ago I knew this person who could only play in one direction. Took a while to convince her that it wasn't hard to learn to go both ways - if everyone was either a clockwise player or a counter-clockwise player then a given backgammon player could never play half the other backgammon players in the world... Gregg Cattanach  writes: There is one small legitimate reason to prefer clock-wise play to counter-clockwise. If the home boards are on your right (you are playing counter-clockwise), there generally is a lot more checkers on the side where you must roll your dice. This can be a bit irritating at your dice will be cocked more often rolling in that zone. But this is a minor factor, and I agree completely that you should be completely comfortable going in both directions.   Did you find the information in this article useful?           Do you have any comments you'd like to add?

 

Etiquette

Am I too slow?  (sevenout+, Apr 2004) 

Am I too slow?  (Stephen Turner, Jan 2002) 

Am I too slow?  (Daniel Murphy, June 1997) 

Commenting on dice  (Ron Barry+, Mar 2001) 

Dealing with droppers  (Bill Hill, Dec 1998) 

Dealing with droppers  (Patti Beadles, Mar 1996) 

Dice cup  (Walt Swan, June 2000) 

Direction of play  (Ric Gerace+, Aug 2001) 

Doubling opponent out  (bustedchucks+, June 2005) 

Doubling to end a game early  (Douglas Zare, Aug 2001) 

Etiquette for online play  (Dean Ayer+, June 1997) 

Going for backgammon in a one-point match  (Douglas Zare, Nov 2000) 

How long to wait?  (Marsha Wisniski+, Dec 1997) 

Listening to music while playing  (Max Urban+, Oct 2009) 

Moving hit checker first  (Timothy Chow+, Oct 2009) 

Premature shaking  (Paul Epstein+, July 2005) 

Rolling the dice  (Julius Selbach+, July 2005) 

Rude conduct  (Igor Schein+, Mar 2003) 

Under resigning  (Bob Newell+, Aug 2004) 

Under resigning  (Ilya Vinogradsky+, May 1994) 

When to quit  (Albert Steg, Nov 1998) 

Why I never complain about the dice  (Phil Simborg, Mar 2004) 

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