Acey-deucey is a variant of backgammon, which became very popular in the U.S.A. since World War 1, when it was widely played by American soldiers, but it is also very popular in other countries like Greece for many years. Actually, it is believed that the game actually started in Greece, where it was probably invented.

In comparison to the classic backgammon, a game of acey-deucey is a race game where both player rush to send their pieces home.

Differences with backgammon

Unlike backgammon, all pieces belonging to both players are placed outside the board when the game begins and the doubling cube is not used at all. Then pieces enter onto each opponent’s inner board as if they were on the bar. In addition to that, once a player’s piece has been entered, it can be moved even though other pieces haven’t been entered. Then, after the entering, gameplay is nearly the same to that of backgammon, but there are a few exceptions:

– One special rule of the game is that when a player rolls doubles or acey-deucey (1-2), he takes an extra turn after playing them.

– A roll of acey-deucey counts as a 1-2 but also as a double roll of the player’s preference.

– When one player reaches his home board, he cannot move arrived pieces.

– An exact roll is required in order to remove pieces from the home board, since moving pieces is not allowed.

– Pieces can move in the board even when a player has a piece on the bar.

You can give acey-deucey some time to try it. It is for sure more dependent on each player’s rolls and therefore luck is more important. Anyway, the game is very fast and even if you don’t like at the end, you’ll have spent only a few minutes of your time.