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Tandem Backgammon

Posted By: Mislav Kovacic
Date: Thursday, 9 February 2012, at 1:16 a.m.

If you play chess you might have heard of (and played) a very fun variant called Bughouse Chess (also known as Tandem Chess) which is played between two 2-players teams.
"Tandem Backgammon" was Fabrice Liardet's attempt to create something similar for backgammon.
I really like the idea and would like to try out this variant as soon as I get a chance. So I was wondering if anyone here has played it and/or has an opinion about it?

Here are the rules and you can read more here: http://www.pion.ch/backgammon/tandem.php

Rules of Tandem Backgammon

Main rules

1. Two two-players teams (team A, players A1 and A2, team B, players B1 and B2) play a match to n points on two independent backgammon boards (A1 vs B1, A2 vs B2), each with its own cube and its own clock. Each pair of games is played simultaneously : the clocks are started in the same time. After one of the games is finished, the other one is played until the end.

2. All games count towards the same scoreline. E.g. if in the first pair of games A1 wins a doubled gammon and A2 loses a single game, team A will lead 4-1.

3. The clocks are reset after each pair of games. The recommended time control is 2 minutes per game plus the usual 12-15 seconds of increment.

Details

4. If a team reaches n points by winning the first of the two simultaneous games, the other game is still played until the end. If both teams reach n points in the same pair of games, the match is a draw.

Variant 4'. if the tournament format requires a winner, then as soon as one team reaches n points the match is over, even if the second game is still unfinished.

5. If a player forfeits on time, his opponent scores the maximum number of points which is still possible in the game (generally, three times the cube value).

Fuzzy variant 5'. if the players agree that the forfeiting player can avoid a gammon or a backgammon by minimally competent play, that player doesn't lose the points of a single game, or respectively of a gammon.

6. ("Crawford" rule) When the opponents are 1 or 2 points away from winning the match at the start of the game, it is allowed to send the cube in only one of the two simultaneous games. That cube can very well be a redouble to 4. The above rule applies to all games played from those scores : there is no post-Crawford.

7. Unrestricted communication is allowed within a team, but not manual intereference on the partner's board.