Jacquet

This was a variant once popular in France in the 19th Century. Each player starts with fifteen checkers on the rightmost point of the far side of the board, at diagonally opposite corners from each other.

The object of the game is for players to move all their checkers counterclockwise around the board to their own finishing table and bear them off. The first player to do so wins the game.

Each player rolls one die, with the higher number goes first. That player then rolls the dice to start his first turn. The roll of the dice indicates how many points/pips the player can move his checkers. The following rules apply:

1) A checker can only be moved to an open point unoccupied by two or more opposing checkers.
2) The numbers on the two dice comprise separate moves. If a player rolls 4 and 3, he may move one checker four spaces and another checker three spaces, or he may move the one checker a total of seven spaces, but only if the intermediate point is also open.
3) Doubles are played twice.
4) If a player is unable to play all of the numbers of a roll, he must play as many as he can and any unplayable numbers are lost.
5) One checker, known as the courier, must be played first, and no other checker can be played until the courier has reached its finishing table.
6) A checker sitting alone on a point is a blot. If an opposing checker lands on a blot, the blot is hit and placed on the bar.

Any time a player has one or more checkers on the bar, their first obligation is to re-enter those checker(s) into their starting table. Players enter a checker by moving it to an open point corresponding to one of the numbers on the rolled dice. If a player is able to enter some but not all of his checkers, he must enter as many as possible then give up the remainder of his turn.

The following rules limit how checkers may be moved:

1) Players may close no more than two points in their starting table.
2) Players may place a maximum of two checkers on their mid point, the left-most point on the far side of the board.

Once players have moved all fifteen of their checkers to their finishing tables, they can begin bearing off. To bear off a checker players must roll a number equal to or greater than the point number of their farthest back checker. If the number is not high enough bear off the farthest back checker, then the player must use that number to move a checker forward.

Players can not waste pips when bearing off. This means players should always bear off a checker where possible rather than use a smaller number to move a checker forward.

If a player's checker is hit during bear off, it must be re-entered in that player's starting table and once again brought around the board before the player can resume bearing off.

The first player to bear off all his checkers wins the game and scores one point. A player wins marcia (2 points) if he bears off all his checkers before the opponent has borne off any, or marcia per punto (3 points) if he gets marcia without constructing a prime.