Irish

Irish or the Irish Game was the predecessor to backgammon and was played in Renaissance England. Described here are the rules as laid out by Francis Willughby.

Number of Players

The game is played with two players.

Set Up

• Standard tables board
• 15 “men” of one color, typically black
• 15 “men” of another color, typically white
• 2 six-sided dice per player
• 1 cup per player

Players determine who goes first using any sort of method. The “black” player places 5 men on points 6 and 13, 3 men on point 8, and 2 men on point 24. The “white” player places 5 men on points 10 and 12, 3 men on point 17, and 2 men on point 1.

Game Play

The “black” player will move men to their home table, which are points 1 (their home point) through 6, and the “white” player will move men to their home table, which are points 19 through 24 (their home point). The men are moved by the current player rolling their dice in their cup and rolling them out. Each die represents movement of one man or both dice totaled represent the movement of a single man, pausing on the divider between each panel of the board.

There are a number of ways players can move. First, they may move to any point that has no men on it or points that they currently occupy. They may move to a spot with one opposing man and may “hit” a “blot”. Blots are points with just a single man. When hit, a man is removed from the board and must re-enter upon the roll of a dice. No other man may move in the meantime.

At any time, movement may be “blocked” if any point has 2 or more opposing men occupying it. When this happens, movement for that man stops. If a man rolls an “ace” and is blocked on the home point, they may not move.

Binding Up the Tables

There is a situation where the opposing player has 2 men on all their home table points and a player has men that were hit. In this situation, a player may not have men be able to re-enter the table. Instead, players roll dice and whichever player gets the highest determines which point is broken up. When a point is broken up, the men at that point are considered for all intents and purposes hit and must re-enter the table accordingly.

Winning the Game

The player who, first, moves all their men on their respective home table and then “bears” them off the table, wins. To “bear off”, a player must get the exact number of moves to reach the side of the board.

Todas Tablas

This is a variation of Irish that has a different initial placement of men. The “black” player places 5 men on points 13 and 19, 2 men on point 24, and 3 men on point 17. The “white” player places 5 men on points 6 and 12, 2 men on point 1, and 3 men on point 8. It also varies with additional winning and losing conditions. A player may win if they hit all their opponent’s men. A tie occurs if no movement may take place.