Acey-Deucey: Card Game, Dice Game or Navy Club?

One name, five meanings — and how to tell which one you are looking for

Search for acey-deucey and you will find a backgammon board, a deck of cards, a bar on a naval base and a jockey's stirrups, all under the same name. None of them is wrong. The phrase simply means a one and a two — ace and deuce — and it has been borrowed by half a dozen different things since the 1920s. This page sorts them out in one place, so you can go straight to the one you meant.

Five meanings at a glance

1. The backgammon variation

The board game, and the reason this site exists. Acey-deucey is backgammon with every checker starting off the board. You enter them in your opponent's home board as though coming off the bar, and the roll the game is named after — a 1 and a 2 — lets you play both numbers, then name any double and play it four times, and then roll again. Doubles earn another roll too. Bearing off needs an exact number, there is no doubling cube and there are no gammons.

It has been the game of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Merchant Marine since the early 1900s, which is where most of its fame comes from. You can play it here free against the computer or a friend, and the rest of the story is spread over five pages:

• The rules, and a board to play on
• A first game, step by step
• Strategy: how to win
• The odds: what a 1-2 is really worth
• The Navy history
• American vs European vs Mexican rules

2. The card game (In-Between)

A completely different game that happens to share the name — and, judging by how people search for it, the one many visitors are actually after. It is also called In-Between, Sheets or Red Dog in some houses, and it is a betting game rather than a game of skill.

How a round works

1. Everyone puts an ante into the pot.
2. Two cards are turned face up in front of the player whose turn it is.
3. That player bets any amount from nothing up to the whole pot on whether the next card will fall between the two in rank.
4. A third card is turned. Between — the player takes their bet out of the pot. Outside — they pay their bet in. Equal to one of the two — that is a "post", and it usually costs double.
5. The turn passes; when the pot is emptied, everyone antes again.

An ace can normally be counted high or low, at the choice of the player it is dealt to, which matters more than it sounds: it turns a hopeless spread into a workable one.

Why it is called acey-deucey

Because an ace and a two is the best hand in the game. It gives the widest possible gap between the two cards, so almost every third card wins — only another ace or another two can beat you. The best hand gave the whole game its name, exactly as the best roll named the board game.

The drinking version

The same rules turn up as a party game with drinks in place of chips: lose the bet and you drink instead of paying. It is a house variation rather than a separate game, and it is worth knowing that the pot can swing quickly — the version where losers pay double on a post empties a pot much faster than people expect.

3. The Navy club

On a U.S. naval base, an Acey-Deucey Club is not a games room: it is the club for first and second class petty officers — the E-5 and E-6 grades — sitting between the junior enlisted club and the chiefs' club. Navy sources report that "acey" and "deucey" were nicknames for those two ratings, which is how the name attached itself.

Whether the ranks borrowed the name from the game or the game from the ranks is not something the sources settle. What is certain is that both were in circulation aboard the same ships at the same time, and that a sailor would have heard the phrase in both senses in the same week. There is more of that story — including the boards screwed down against the roll of the ship — in the Navy history.

4. Uneven stirrups in horse racing

In racing, riding acey-deucey means setting your stirrups at different lengths — the inside iron lower than the outside one, sometimes by as much as a foot — so the rider can lean into the turns of an oval track. On American courses, which are run counter-clockwise, that means the left iron.

The style is credited to the jockey Jackie Westrope and was made famous by Eddie Arcaro in the 1940s; it is still standard among many riders today. The connection to the game is only the name: one thing high, one thing low, an ace and a deuce.

5. A poker hand

At a poker table, acey-deucey is a nickname for two pair, aces and deuces. It is table slang rather than a rule, and it has no connection to the betting card game above beyond the two ranks in its name.

Where the name comes from

Ace is a one and deuce is a two — on a die, on a card, in dice slang. Dictionaries date the compound to roughly 1920 to 1925, formed from ace and deuce with the familiar -y ending that turns a word into a nickname.

The spellings wander, and all of them are in use:

• acey-deucey — the usual form, and the one dictionaries list
• acey-deucy — common in older American writing
• acey ducey — how the U.S. Navy tends to spell it, including on museum labels

There is also a general slang sense — "acey-deucey" as an adjective meaning fine, or in good order — which shows how far a dice phrase can travel in a century.

Which one did you mean?

A short routing table, since that is probably why you are here:

And if you arrived by accident but have five minutes: the board game is genuinely good, it is free here, and a whole game takes a few minutes.

Questions people ask

What does acey-deucey mean?

Literally, a one and a two: ace is a one and deuce is a two. The name is attached to at least five things — a backgammon variation played in the U.S. Navy, a betting card game also called In-Between, the Navy club for first and second class petty officers, a riding style with uneven stirrups in horse racing, and a two-pair poker hand of aces and deuces.

Is acey-deucey a card game or a board game?

Both names are in use. The board game is a backgammon variation in which every checker starts off the board and a roll of 1-2 buys a free double plus another roll. The card game, also called In-Between or Sheets, is a betting game where you wager on whether a third card falls between two face-up cards.

How do you play the acey-deucey card game?

Everyone antes into a pot. Two cards are turned face up for a player, who bets any amount from nothing up to the pot on whether the next card will fall between them in rank. If it does, they take their bet from the pot; if it does not, they pay their bet in. Hitting a card of the same rank as one of the two costs double.

Why is the card game called acey-deucey?

Because an ace and a two is the best pair of cards you can be dealt: with the widest possible spread, only another ace or another two can beat you. The hand gave the whole game its name.

What is an Acey-Deucey Club in the Navy?

A club on a naval base for first and second class petty officers — the E-5 and E-6 grades — sitting between the junior enlisted club and the chiefs' club. Navy sources report that acey and deucey were nicknames for those two ratings.

What does acey-deucey mean in horse racing?

Riding with uneven stirrups: the inside iron is set lower than the outside one, sometimes by as much as a foot, to help the jockey balance through left-hand turns. It is credited to the jockey Jackie Westrope and was made famous by Eddie Arcaro in the 1940s.

What is acey-deucey in poker?

Two pair, aces and deuces. It is a nickname rather than a rule, and it has nothing to do with the betting card game of the same name.

How do you spell acey-deucey?

Acey-deucey is the usual spelling; acey-deucy and acey ducey are also in use, and the U.S. Navy tends to write acey-ducey. Dictionaries date the word to the 1920s, from ace plus deuce.

The board game in full: the rules and a free game, a first game step by step, the strategy guide, the measured odds, American vs European vs Mexican and the Navy history.