How to Play Backgammon
Objective
A 2-player dice-and-strategy game. Race to move all 15 of your checkers around
the board and bear them off before your opponent.
Setup
Each player starts with 15 checkers placed at fixed positions on a 24-point board.
Players move in opposite directions around the board toward their home board.
Rolling & Moving
- Roll two dice each turn. Move checkers by the number shown on each die.
- Doubles: Rolling the same number on both dice gives you 4 moves of that value.
- Each die must be used separately (you cannot combine them into one move).
- You must use the maximum number of dice possible. If only one die can be used, it must be the higher value.
Movement Rules
- You can move a checker to any point that is empty, occupied by your own checkers, or has only 1 opponent checker (a "blot").
- You cannot land on a point with 2 or more opponent checkers (it's blocked).
Hitting
- Landing on a point with exactly 1 opponent checker captures it and sends it to the bar.
- A player with checkers on the bar must re-enter them on the opponent's home board before making any other moves.
- Re-entry uses a die value to place the checker on the corresponding point of the opponent's home board.
Bearing Off
- Once all your checkers are in your home board (and none on the bar), you may begin bearing off.
- Use a die value matching a checker's point number to remove it from the board.
- If no checker sits on the exact point, you may bear off from the highest occupied point if the die value is larger.
Winning
The first player to bear off all 15 checkers wins the game.
- Gammon: If the loser has not borne off any checkers, the winner scores 2× points.
- Backgammon: If the loser also has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board, the winner scores 3× points.
Doubling Cube (Optional Variant)
- Before rolling, the current player may offer a double, proposing to double the stakes.
- The opponent can accept (the cube value doubles, and the opponent takes ownership of the cube) or decline (forfeiting the game at the current cube value).
- Only the player who owns the cube (or either player if the cube is centered) may offer a double.
- The cube starts at 1 and can be doubled to 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.
Match Play (Optional Variant)
- Requires the Doubling Cube to be enabled.
- Players compete across multiple games toward a target score (e.g., first to 5 points).
- Each game awards points based on the cube value × gammon/backgammon multiplier.
- The match ends when a player reaches or exceeds the target score.