[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
When either player has succeeded in getting all his men into his home
table, he proceeds to "bear them off"--_i.e._, to remove them from the
board. When the game has reached this stage, each throw entitles the player
either to move forward a man or men (to the extent indicated by the throw)
within the limits of his own table, or to remove men from the corresponding
points. Thus, suppose that the player's men are thus distributed in his
table: five men on the cinque point, three on the quatre point, three on
the deuce, and four on the ace point, the trois and six points being
unoccupied (see Fig. 2). Suppose that the player throws "quatre trois." For
the quatre, he may either remove a man from the quatre point or advance a
man from the "cinque" {276} to the "ace" point. In the case of the trois,
he has no man on that point, and therefore _must_ play forward, either by
advancing a man from the cinque to the deuce, or from the quatre to the ace
point. If, however, he throws a number which he cannot deal with after
either of these fashions--_e.g._, a six, he is entitled to bear off a man
from his highest occupied point, in this case the cinque.
Doublets have, as in the earlier stage of the game, a twofold value, and
may be played either wholly by moving men forward, wholly by bearing off,
or partly by the one method and partly by the other, as may be desirable.
Suppose, for instance, that the player, having his men as shown in the
figure, throws deuces; having only three men on the deuce point, he can
only bear off that number; the fourth man must be played forward, either
from the cinque or quatre point.
The player who first succeeds in removing all his men from the board wins
the game, but the _value_ of the game depends upon the stage reached by the
adverse player, as follows:--
If the adversary has got all his men into his own home table, and has begun
to bear off, the game of the winner is known as a "hit."
If the winner has borne off all his men before his adversary has begun to
do the same, the game is known as a "gammon." The loser is said to be
"gammoned," and pays double the agreed stake.
If the winner has borne off all his men while the adversary has still a man
or men "up" (_i.e._, on the bar) or in his (the winner's) home table, the
game is a "backgammon," and the loser pays {277} either thrice or four
times (as may have been agreed) the amount of the single stake.
Where several games are played in succession, the winner of a "hit" throws
first in the game next following. After a gammon or backgammon, the players
throw again for the right to begin, as at starting.