Henry Jones

“ When your adversary is bearing his men, and you have two men in his table, say on his ace point, and several men in the outer table, it is to your advantage to leave one man on the ace point, because it prevents his bearing his men to the greatest advantage, and gives you the chance of his leaving a blot. ”

“ The game proceeds by moving the men round towards home, or by hitting blots and sending them back, until one of the players gets all his men into his inner table or home. As soon as this stage is reached, the player who has accomplished it begins to take his men off the board or to bear them. Thus, suppose he has several men on every point of his table, and throws six, quatre ; he bears one man from his six point, and one from his quatre point. ”

“ If you succeed in taking both these men, and your ad versary has a blot in his inner table, it will be to your in terest not to make up your own table, but to leave a blot there on purpose, in hopes of his entering on it. You will then have a probability of hitting a third man, which, if accomplished, will give you considerable odds (according to Hoyle, 4 to 1) in favour of winning a gammon; whereas if you have only two of his men up, the odds are against your gammoning him. ”

“ If, in endeavouring to gain your own or your adversary s cinque point, you have to leave a blot and are hit, and your adversary is forwarder in the game than you, you must put another man on your cinque or bar point, or into your adversary s table. ”

“ The point in which a man is entered must not be blocked by two or more men^ belonging to the adversary. Thus, to carry on the illustration, if white now throws aces, or sixes, or six, ace, he cannot enter at all. He is not allowed to move any man while he has one to enter; consequently his throw is null and void, and black throws again. It some times happens that one player has a man up, and that his adversary occupies all the points on his own home table with two or more men (called having his table made up) . In this case, the player with a man up cannot enter ”

“ B. then has to return the service by striking the shuttlecock back over the net without allowing it to touch the ground, and so on alternately until one player fails. If this is the player who served, he is hand-out, his adversary becomes hand-in, and serves, and no score accrues. But if the player failing is the one who was served to, his adversary scores one point towards game, called an ace. The player who first scores 15 aces wins the game; but if the score arrives at 14 all, it is necessary for one player to score two consecutive aces in order to win. ”

“ In other respects the game is similar to ordinary backgammon. The chief object in the game is for the player who has his men in advance to secure as many successive points as possible, so that his adversary may be unable to pass or hit the forward men. ”

“ On each of the spots marked "post," half-way between the service lines, and 15 ft. apart, a post about 6 ft. high must be erected, either on a stand or driven into the ground, and supported by guy-ropes.
A net, about 5 ft. 6 in. or 5 ft. high should be stretched from post to post. The depth of the net is of but little consequence. Where expense is no object, it should reach to the ground. ”

“ If he throws doublets a second time, he moves according to the rule already given, and throws again, and so on. The privilege is sometimes restricted by not allowing this advantage to the first doublets thrown by each player. ”

“ The number of different throws that can be made is thirty-six. (See Hazard.) By taking all the combinations of these throws which include given numbers, it is easily discovered where blots may be left with the least probability of being hit. ”