How to play backgammon

The object of the game

Backgammon is a race between two players. Each controls fifteen checkers, and the goal is to move all of them around the board into your own home board, then remove them — a move called bearing off. The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins.

The checkers travel in one direction only, from your starting points toward your home board. The two players move in opposite directions, so your checkers and your opponent's pass each other along the way — and that's where the conflict happens.

What makes the game endlessly interesting is the tension between luck and skill. The dice decide what you can do; you decide what you should do. Two players handed the same rolls will reach completely different positions — and that gap is where every game is won or lost.

What you need to play

A complete backgammon set is simple, and you almost certainly have everything in one box:

• The board — twenty-four narrow triangles called points, arranged in four quadrants of six.
• Thirty checkers — fifteen per player in two contrasting colours, commonly white and brown or red and white.
• Two pairs of dice — one pair per player, ideally with a dice cup each for fair, shaken rolls.
• A doubling cube — a larger six-sided marker showing 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64, used to track the stakes. It's optional for casual play but standard once you're hooked.

Setting up the board

The board has four quadrants of six points each: your home board and outer board, and your opponent's home board and outer board, separated by a central ridge called the bar. The two sides set up as mirror images of each other.

Counting your own points from your home board outward, place your fifteen checkers like this:

The starting position. Each player begins with the same fifteen checkers, mirrored — and an identical pip count of 167, the total distance their checkers must travel to bear off.

The two back checkers on your 24-point have the longest journey home. Managing them well is one of the first real skills you'll develop.

Taking a turn

Players roll one die each to decide who starts; the higher number goes first and plays both dice from that opening roll. If both roll the same number, they re-roll until the numbers differ. After that, each turn begins by rolling both dice together.

1. Read the dice as two separate moves. A roll of 5 and 3 lets you move one checker five points and another three — or the same checker five then three, as long as each leg lands on a legal point.
2. Move toward your home board. Checkers only ever travel in one direction: around the board toward your home quadrant, from higher-numbered points to lower.
3. Doubles are played twice over. Roll the same number on both dice and you get four moves of that value, not two. Double 5s gives you four moves of five.
4. You must use both numbers if you legally can. You can't skip a die to avoid a bad position. If only one number is playable, you play that one and forfeit the other; if either could be used but not both, you must play the larger.

Hitting, the bar and entering

A point held by a single checker is called a blot, and it's vulnerable. If you land on your opponent's blot, you hit it: their checker is removed from the board and placed on the bar, the raised ridge down the middle.

A player with a checker on the bar can do nothing else until it re-enters. To enter, you roll the dice and bring the checker into your opponent's home board on a point matching one of the numbers — provided that point isn't blocked by two or more enemy checkers. If both entry points are blocked, you forfeit the turn and try again next time.

Getting hit late in the game, when you have a long way back, can swing a sure win into a loss. That's exactly why a careful player avoids leaving blots within range of the opponent's checkers.

Bearing off and winning

Once all fifteen of your checkers have reached your home board, you can start bearing off — removing them according to the dice. A roll of 6 bears off a checker from your 6-point, a 4 from your 4-point, and so on.

• If you roll a number higher than your highest occupied point, you bear off from the next highest point down.
• If a checker can still be moved within the home board instead, you may choose to do that rather than bear off.
• If you get hit while bearing off, that checker goes to the bar and must travel all the way home again before you can resume bearing off.

The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins the game. How much they win depends on how the loser finishes:

• A single — the loser has borne off at least one checker. Worth one point (times the cube).
• A gammon — the loser has borne off none. Worth double.
• A backgammon — the loser has borne off none and still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board. Worth triple.

The doubling cube

The doubling cube is what turns backgammon from a dice game into a game of nerve and judgement. It's a six-sided marker showing 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64, and it tracks the stakes of the current game, which start at one point.

At the start of your turn, before rolling, you may offer to double the stakes. Your opponent either takes — accepting the higher stake and taking ownership of the cube, with the sole right to redouble later — or drops, conceding the game immediately at its current value. Once someone takes a double, only they can offer the next one.

Knowing when to double, and when to drop a double you can't answer, is the single most valuable skill in the game. Most of the difference between a casual player and a strong one lives here, not in the checker play.

Common beginner mistakes

Almost every new player loses games the same handful of ways. Knowing them is half the cure.

Leaving too many blots

Scattering single checkers across the board invites hits. Keep checkers in pairs or larger stacks where you can, and before committing a move, count how many of your opponent's numbers would hit any blot you'd leave.

Forgetting the bar comes first

A checker on the bar must re-enter before you do anything else. It's the most urgent situation in the game, and beginners routinely overlook it.

Not making your key points

The 5-point and bar-point are gold. Passing up a chance to make them in favour of a small advance is a habit worth breaking early.

Ignoring the gammon risk

If you're losing badly, get at least one checker borne off before the game ends — otherwise you hand your opponent a gammon and lose double.

How to get better at backgammon

Once the rules click, improvement comes from a handful of habits. None of them require talent — just attention and repetition.

Learn the standard opening plays

There are only fifteen possible opening rolls, and for most of them experts agree on the best play. Memorising these gives you a strong, automatic start to every game and frees your attention for the harder middle. Make your 5-point whenever you can — it's the most valuable point on the board.

Count the race

At any moment you can add up the total distance each player's checkers must travel to bear off — the pip count, which starts at 167 each. Knowing who's ahead tells you whether to play a running game or dig in and try to hit. It sounds tedious; it becomes second nature, and it informs nearly every cube decision.

Build a prime

A prime is a run of consecutive made points. A six-point prime is impenetrable — an opponent's checker trapped behind it cannot escape at all. Even a four- or five-point prime is a powerful cage. Learning to build and hold one transforms your game.

Study the doubling cube

If you do one thing to raise your level, make it this. A player with mediocre checker play and sound cube decisions will beat a strong mover who doubles and drops badly. Learn the rough equity thresholds for doubling, taking and dropping, and revisit them often.

Review your own games

Play, then look back at the turning points and ask what you'd do differently. Train against a stronger opponent — human or computer — because you improve fastest against play just beyond your current level.

Popular backgammon variants

Once you know the standard game, these variants are worth a try — each changes the feel with a single twist.

• Acey-deucey — a lively variant, popular in the navy, where rolling a 1-2 grants a bonus turn. Checkers often start off the board and enter as play begins.
• Nackgammon — the standard setup with the back checkers spread out, producing longer, more strategic games with more contact.
• Hypergammon — just three checkers per side. Fast, sharp, and far more skill-revealing per game than it first appears.
• Tabula and other ancestors — backgammon descends from games played for thousands of years; many regional cousins survive, each with its own rhythm.

Glossary of backgammon terms