The game of Dames Rabattues

Dames Rabattues

Dames Rabattues is part of the long list of the games supposed to be played by Gargantua – 16th century French author Rabelais book – as well as the game of Tourne case. The here after rules of this little tables game, are those one can find in a book published in Paris by Charpentier for the first time in the year 1699. They had been reprinted in the numerous editions of the Académie des jeux games rules book, until the very beginning of the 19th century without any modification.

Equipment :

· A backgammon board.

· 15 light colour checkers and 15 dark ones.

· 2 dice (the players use the same dice).

· 2 dice cups.

Starting position :

Each player stack his 15 checkers as shown on the following diagram :

WHITE

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

   |2W 2W 2W 3W 3W 3W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   |2B 2B 2B 3B 3B 3B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

BLACK

· The dotted lines symbolised the points (arrows). The checkers are stacked on each 1 to 6 point : 2W means two stacked white checkers, 3B means three stacked black checkers.

· Only one side (left on the diagram) of the board is used by the checkers, the second side (right one, here) will be used to roll the dice.

Goal of the game :

· First, to unstack the checkers ("rabattre" in French).

· Then to be the first to bear off the board all one's chekers.

First roll :

To know which player will be the first to roll the dice :

· each player throw one die,

· the player who obtains the higher pips number takes the two dice and rolls them for the first roll of the game.

Validity of the dice roll :

· if at least one die lands out of the rolling dice side board , you have to roll again the two dice

General rules :

· If the player who have rolled the dice cannot play one or two of his checker, his opponent can use the same roll result to move one or two of his checkers according to the die or dice not used.

· When rolling a double, the same player rolls again after moving his checkers .

Unstacking the checkers ("rabattre") :

· As we saw the checkers are stacked on each point at the very beginning of the game. The first goal of the game is to unstacked all the checkers by putting them on line onto their points.

· Each die allow to unstack at most one checker. I say "at most" because if the die value corresponding point has no more checker to be unstacked, this die cannot be used to unstack any other checker.

Example 1 :

White first rolls « 4 et 3 » : he unstacks one checker from the fourth point, and another one from the third point, as shown on the following diagram :

WHITE

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

   |2W 2W  W 2W 3W 3W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  W  W  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   |2B 2B 2B 3B 3B 3B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

BLACK

Black rolls double Ace : he unstacks one checker from the one point and because there is no more checker to be unstacked on the one point, he cannot play anything more : White takes advantage of that situation by using the Ace not played by Black, he unstacks one checker from its own one point.

WHITE

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

   | W 2W  W 2W 3W 3W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | W  |  W  W  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B 2B 2B 3B 3B 3B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

BLACK

Black, having previously rolled a double, rolls again the dice and obtains «5 and Ace» : he unstacks one checker from the fifth point and cannot used the Ace (no more checker to unstack on his one point). White cannot take advantage of the Black's unplayed Ace, having no more checker to unstack from his own one point.

WHITE

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

   | W 2W  W 2W 3W 3W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | W  |  W  W  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B  |  |  |  B  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B 2B 2B 3B 2B 3B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

BLACK

White rolls « 5 and 4 », he unstacks the last possible checker from the fourth point and one another from the fifth point.

WHITE

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

   | B 2B  B  B 2B 3B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B  |  B  B  B  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  B  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | N  |  |  |  N  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | N 2N 2N 3N 2N 3N || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

BLACK

... and the game continues in the same way until one player succeeds to unstack all his checkers. Then, the second phase of the game starts for him : the bearing off !.

Bearing off :

To be able to bear off his first checker, a player needs first to unstacked all his checkers. To bear off, we proceed as follow :

· Each die allow to bear off at most one checker. One bears off only a checker on the point corresponding to the value of the die.

Example 2 :

WHITE

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

   | W  W  W  W 2W  W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | W  W  W  W  W  W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  W  |  W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  B  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B  |  B  B  B  B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B 2B  B  B 2B 2B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

BLACK

White rolls « 5 and 2 » : he unstacks his last checker on the fifth point, then bear off one checker from the second point.

WHITE

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

   | W  W  W  W  W  W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

 W | W  |  W  W  W  W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  W  W  W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  B  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B  |  B  B  B  B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B 2B  B  B 2B 2B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

BLACK

Exemple 3 : we suppose to be now in the following situation

WHITE

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

   | W  |  W  W  W  W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

 W | W  |  W  W  W  W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

 W | |  |  |  W  W  W || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   |                  ||                  |

   | |  |  |  |  |  | || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | |  |  |  B  |  B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B  |  B  B  B  B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   | B 2B  B  B 2B  B || |  |  |  |  |  | |

   +-1--2--3--4--5--6---------------------+

BLACK

White rolls « 4 and 2 » : he bears off one cheker from the fourth point and are not able to play the « 2 », the second point beeing empty.

Black take the opportunity to use the unplayed Black's « 2 » to unstak one checker from his own second point. Then, Black rolls the dice.

If Black forgets to use the White's « 2 » before to roll the dice, he cannot use the White's « 2 » anymore. This is the only case of the game where a player has to be aware.

Remember :

· Each die has to be played individually, never add the value of the dice.

· When the value of a die is not playable (corresponding point empty or, in case of double, occupied by only one checker) the opponent can use it to unstack or to bear off (if he is in bearing off phase).

· A double allows to roll again (even if the double has'nt been used totally).

Winning the game :

· The player who is the first to bear off his 15 checkers, is the winner (it doesn't matter if the last checker has been borne off on the player roll or on the opponent's one).

· To win worth what the players decided before starting the game (1 point for exemple or anything else ...)

Référence :

Règles du jeu des Dames rabattues (à Paris chez Charpentier, édition de1699)

Académie universelle des jeux (à Amsterdam 1758)

Informations :

· On line the 26th of October 2004

Philippe Lalanne