How to play Ssangnyuk

What Ssangnyuk is

Ssangnyuk is a race. Roll two dice and bear all fifteen checkers off before your opponent does.

The History of the Northern Dynasties records a game called akhsak in Baekje. In the Goryeo period, Yi Gyu-bo wrote a line about calling for the board and contesting ssangnyuk.

It also appears in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. In 1424 King Sejong scolds an official for playing ssangnyuk instead of checking on a patient, and a 1525 entry lists it beside janggi.

Those entries prove the game was widespread. They are not a source for the rules. No entry in the Annals gives a checker count or a point count.

The game reached Japan as sugoroku, and backgammon shares the same root. The Korean Encyclopedia of Seasonal Customs says outright that this game is called backgammon abroad.

The basic rules

The board has twenty-four points. The bar in the middle is where hit checkers wait.

The two sides run in opposite directions. Gather your checkers in your home board before bearing off.

Roll two dice and move that many points. Use both numbers on one checker or split them between two.

On a 6 and 3 you move one checker nine points, or one checker six and another three. You cannot rewrite it as five and four.

Land on a point with exactly one enemy checker and you hit it. A lone checker is called a bari, and a hit checker is called a gwihyangmal.

A checker on the bar must come in before you move anything else.

You cannot land on a point with two or more enemy checkers. Blocking the lane is what this game is about.

Once all fifteen checkers are home, you bear off. Bear all of them off first and you win.

This board in particular

Each side has fifteen checkers, following the National Folk Museum and the Ministry of Culture. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture says sixteen.

A point holds at most five checkers, following the Ministry of Culture. Backgammon has no such cap.

On doubles you use the number twice. The Korean sources only go as far as moving two checkers at once. Using it four times is a backgammon rule with no Korean source, so this board does not do it.

When bearing off, a roll larger than the distance still bears a checker off. That is the Korean sentence: overshooting the number does not matter.

You must play both numbers. If only one can be played, play the larger one.

The opening setup and the way the first player is decided are not in any source. This board decides them and the rules page marks them as interpretation.

The dice are a rule, not a draw. Each roll comes from the board number and the turn count, so the same board always rolls the same way.

Getting started

Make points. Two checkers on a point shut your opponent out of it.

Leave fewer blots. A lone checker can be hit at any time.

Fill the near side of your home board first. That leaves your opponent fewer squares to re-enter on.

Watch the pip count under the board. It tells you which side is ahead in the race.

When you are ahead, run past contact. When you are behind, stay back and play for a hit.

Playing better

Six points in a row is a wall your opponent cannot cross. Building toward one swings the whole game.

Keeping a checker in the enemy home board buys you chances to hit but delays your own bear-off. The pip count tells you which matters more.

Doubles only play twice here, so a single turn covers less ground than in backgammon. Adding one point at a time beats a long run.

Because an oversized roll still bears off, stacking checkers on the low points finishes faster.

Switch the bot style. The greedy bot comes to hit, the safe bot builds walls. The same board plays differently against each.

When you get stuck

A checker will not select. If you have a checker on the bar, that one comes in first.

There is nowhere to go. The turn passes on its own and the board says so.

One number went unused. When only one can be played, the larger one has to be played.

Bearing off will not start. All fifteen checkers have to be home first.

A point will not take another checker. Five is the cap.

There is no undo. You can cancel a selection, but a played move stands.