How to Tally Points in Backgammon
Knowing how to tally points in backgammon depends on whether players have agreed on a match play or money play. Also, the scoring system of these competitions adhere to counting stakes or points that take into account the value of the doubling cube and its corresponding completed game type.
The method of scoring player points and current stakes are as follows:
A single game winner, where the loser was able to bear off at least one piece, earns the value of the doubling cube only.
A double game (gammon) winner, where the loser wasn't able to bear off at least one piece, earns twice the value of the doubling cube.
A triple game (backgammon) winner, where the loser wasn't able to bear off a piece and still has a piece on the bar or on the winner's inner board, earns three times the doubling cube's value.
That's how single, double, and triple games affect the value of the doubling cube of each finished game. And now that we know how current stakes are computed, we can go ahead and learn how to tally points in a match play and money play in backgammon.
A match play is a competition where players compete over a series of games. Using the method of determining current stakes, finished game points are awarded to the corresponding winner until someone accumulates the preset number of points to win the match. The only consideration here is the Crawford rule that disallows the use of the doubling cube when either player is within a single point of winning the match.
Money play, in contrast, involves only one game where players wager on the value of each point. This wager is called the initial stake. So, using the procedure of computing current stakes or points, the loser pays the winner this initial stake multiplied by corresponding finished game points. More importantly, tallying current stakes are subject to optional rules called automatic doubles, Jacoby rule, and beavers.
The procedure of how to tally points in backgammon involves computing current stakes for each finished game. The value of the doubling cube is multiplied by one, two, or three depending on whether the completed game ended in a single game, double game (gammon), or triple game (backgammon). So in tallying match play points, current stakes for each completed game in the series is added to the corresponding winner's score until one reaches the pre-agreed points to win the match. And in tallying money play points, current stakes of just one game are similarly computed and may be subject to optional rules that players may agree upon before the game starts.