Toutes Tables 225

Toutes tables, or Toute table, is the old French name for backgammon. Mentioned by Rabelais, its rules were written down in 1699 in a sequel to a treatise on trictrac published in Paris by Charpentier. Since the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815, the English name backgammon has prevailed.

What makes backgammon such a strong game is the starting position of the checkers, which allows players to be immediately in the action. Because of this situation, a good knowledge of all the possible openings following the first dice rolls is necessary if one wants to have an advantage over a player who does not know them, or at least hold one's own against another who has studied them.

Bobby Fischer, in order to offset the excessive importance of openings in chess, but above all the standardization of the opening moves brought about by their being well known to seasoned players, invented a variant called Chess960, in which the starting position of the pieces is chosen at random following a simple procedure offering 960 configurations

Very humbly, and just for fun, it seemed interesting to me to apply this idea to backgammon, in order to give it renewed appeal through new situations for experienced players, and to give beginners a fresh chance. I took the opportunity to revive the old name Toutes tables by naming this variant Toutes tables 225 . The principle, for each game, is to randomly draw the starting positions of the checkers according to a simple rule that generates 225 different starting positions. In this way, learning the openings becomes almost pointless, and one can focus on the very essence of the game. Otherwise all the other rules of Toutes tables apply, returning to an uncompromising game as it is played in chess, checkers, or trictrac.

It is of course possible to keep the full rules of backgammon while adopting the random choice of starting position for the checkers, this variant then taking the name Backgammon 225 .

- A board with 24 points, grouped into four quadrants of 6 points ;
- 15 dark checkers and 15 light checkers ;
- 2 dice (both players use the same dice) ;
- 2 dice cups (one per player).

The dotted lines represent the points. BLACK is the position of the player with the dark checkers and WHITE that of the one with the light checkers.

The middle strip is called the bar.
The 1-6 quadrant is Black's small jan, and 19-24 is his return jan.
The 24-19 quadrant is White's small jan, and 6-1 is his return jan.
Thus a player's small jan is the other player's return jan.

The starting position is obtained randomly according to the following procedure:

1) A player rolls the dice onto the board using their dice cup, until obtaining a simple roll (two different numbers) :

The lower die indicates the location (point), within the 1-6 quadrant, of the two black checkers, and the higher one indicates that of the five white checkers.

The lower die indicates the location, within the 12-7 quadrant, of the five black checkers, and the higher one indicates that of the three white checkers. A 1 (ace) shown by a die corresponds to point 12 and a 6 to point 7.

3) Once this is done, the remaining checkers are set up on the opposite side of the board, 13-24, mirroring the first ones, keeping the same numbers but swapping the colors.

3) The remaining checkers are placed opposite those just placed, swapping the colors.

Path of the checkers

For Black: in the direction 1-12-13-24
For White: in the direction 24-13-12-1

Vocabulary

A single checker alone on a point is called a half-square.

Two or more checkers on a point form a square.

On a point that has a square, the checkers from the third one onward are called oversquares.

Objective of the game

To be the first to bear all one's checkers off the board after having brought them all into one's return jan.

Dice priority

To determine which player will roll the dice for the first move of the game, each player rolls one die and whoever has obtained the higher number plays the numbers thus rolled.

Validity of the dice

If, on a roll of the dice, at least one of them lands off the board or ends up on one of the strips, the roll must be made again entirely.

If a die ends up tilted and the players cannot agree on the value shown, the roll must be made again entirely. If one of the players maintains that the die is valid, he may perform a test consisting of placing another die on top of the die being tested: if the test die slides off, the dice must be re-rolled, otherwise the roll is deemed valid. This test may be carried out only by the player claiming that the die is valid, and not by the one disputing it.

If one die ends up resting on the other, the roll must be made again.

Dice lying flat on top of checkers are valid.

Moving the checkers

1. On a simple roll (the 2 dice show different numbers) one may :

- either move one checker by the value of one die and a second checker by the value of the other die,

- or move a single checker by the value of one of the two dice, then from that resting position move the same checker again by the value of the second die. To play in a clear manner, it is good practice to mark a brief pause on the intermediate point.

2. On a double (the value of each of the two dice is the same)

One plays the value of a die 4 times, which allows one to move from one to four checkers.

If a single checker is moved 2 to 4 times the value of a die, one marks a brief pause on each intermediate point.

3. « Touched checker: played checker »

A player who, after rolling the dice, touches one of their checkers may be forced by the opponent to play it if it can legally be played.

On the other hand, one may touch one of their checkers without being obliged to play it if one has beforehand announced « I adjust! ». One may, however, adjust only to arrange one's checkers, and never to try out a possible move.

Names given to doubles

Doubles are announced in the following manner :

Double of :
6 : « Sonnés »
5 : « Quines »
4 : « Carmes »
3 : « Ternes »
2 : « Double two »
Ace : « Bezas »

Obligation to play the higher die

If one can play either of the two dice but not both, one is required if possible to play the higher one. This is the reason why, after rolling the dice, one announces the dice starting with the higher one (for example « 4 and 2 » rather than « 2 and 4 »). The « 1 » is not called « one » but « Ace ». Announcing the dice is, however, not compulsory.

In the case of a double one must play the maximum number of points possible (while remaining, of course, within a whole multiple of the value of a die.

Restriction on moving checkers

A checker may never stop or even rest on a point occupied by more than one opposing checker.

Hitting the opponent's checkers

When a checker rests or stops on an isolated opposing checker (half-square), it is hit. It is taken out of play and placed on the middle strip of the board (bar) on the opponent's side, by the attacker.

Re-entering checkers

Checkers sent to the bar must all re-enter through the small jan before one can continue playing those which have not been hit or those which have just re-entered.

The rules for moving and hitting checkers remain applicable when re-entering checkers.

Bearing off

Once all 15 checkers have reached the return jan, checkers are borne off the board according to the following rules :

In this phase, the outer edge of the board is treated as an additional point.

One is required, if possible, to play one's checkers onto the points of the return jan and the outer edge.

If it is impossible to play as above, one plays with the checkers furthest from the edge, bearing them off the board. As a result, one plays on the board and the edge fewer points than the dice show.

In this latter case, unlike in backgammon, one must absolutely play the maximum number of points possible on the board and on the outer edge.

Example : White has only three checkers left to bear off and a black checker is on the ace point. White rolls « 6 and ace »

How one plays in backgammon

White plays his ace with the checker on the third point, stacking it onto the second point (forming an oversquare), then he plays his six by bearing off a checker from the second point.

Out of the seven points shown by the dice, he has only used three in the board and on the edge.

By playing this way, White avoids exposing himself. He has granted himself a privilege consisting of not playing the maximum possible number of points shown by the dice, in order to obtain a favorable position. This is not allowed in Toutes tables.

How one plays in Toutes tables

White plays his ace with a checker from the second point, hitting the black checker, then he plays his six by bearing off a checker from the second point.

Out of the seven points shown by the dice, he has used four in the board and on the bar, that is the maximum possible.

By playing the maximum number of points in order to bear off, White puts himself in a precarious position with respect to Black, leaving two half-squares exposed to the black checker's re-entry. This situation is unfavorable for White, but Toutes tables does not allow any departure from the rule, which in this case gives Black a fresh chance.

Scoring and changing the starting position

A player who has borne off their fifteen checkers while their opponent has all their checkers in their return jan, or has already borne off at least one, scores a single game (1 point).

A player who has borne off their fifteen checkers while their opponent has not borne off at least one checker, or does not have all their checkers in their return jan, scores a double game (2 points).

The players must agree at the start of play on the number of points a player must reach in order to win.

Until this point total has been reached, each player will begin a game with the same starting position, then a new starting position will be drawn at random and used by both players. The starting position will therefore be redefined every two games.