How to Play Backgammon

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Backgammon is a two-player race-and-blocking game played on a distinctive board of twenty-four narrow triangles called points. Each player controls fifteen checkers which travel in opposite directions around the board, and the winner is the first to remove all their pieces from play. What makes it compelling is the constant tension between racing ahead and building defensive structures to slow your opponent down.

The game sits at a rare intersection of luck and skill: the dice introduce uncertainty on every turn, yet strong positional play and knowledge of the odds consistently separate good players from poor ones. It is played casually at kitchen tables, seriously in clubs, and competitively in international tournaments, making it one of the most widely played two-player board games in the world.

A little history

Backgammon belongs to a family of race games using dice and a track of points that can be traced back several thousand years; ancient boards and pieces consistent with such games have been found in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. The direct ancestor of the modern game took recognisable shape in medieval Europe, and the rules broadly familiar today were codified in England during the seventeenth century. The doubling cube is a twentieth-century addition, with its origins in 1920s America, though exactly who introduced it is unclear.

Setting up

1. Place the board between the two players so that each has a home board (inner board) on their right and an outer board on their left. The two home boards face each other across the bar.
2. Number the points 1 to 24 from each player's perspective: point 1 is the far-right point of your home board; point 24 is the far-right point of your outer board from your opponent's view.
3. Set up the checkers for both players in the standard starting position: 2 checkers on the 24-point, 5 checkers on the 13-point, 3 checkers on the 8-point, and 5 checkers on the 6-point.
4. The two players' checkers travel in opposite directions: one player moves from points 24 to 1, the other from points 1 to 24.
5. Place the doubling cube in the centre of the board with the 64 face up to show it is unowned.
6. Each player rolls one die; the higher roll goes first and uses the numbers shown on both dice as their opening move. Re-roll if the dice are equal.

How to play

1. On your turn, roll both dice. You must move checkers forward (toward your home board) the exact number of pips shown on each die, using them as two separate moves or applying both to one checker across two moves.
2. A point occupied by two or more of your checkers is made and blocks your opponent: they cannot land on or pass through it. A single checker on a point is a blot and is vulnerable.
3. If you land on a blot belonging to your opponent, their checker is hit and placed on the bar in the centre of the board.
4. A player with checkers on the bar must re-enter them before making any other move. To re-enter, roll the dice and place a checker on the opponent's home board point corresponding to the number shown, provided that point is not made by the opponent. If neither die allows entry, the player loses their entire turn.
5. You may use both dice numbers in either order. You must use both numbers if legally possible. If only one can be used, you must play it; if both are playable but not simultaneously, you must play the higher number.
6. Doubles are played four times rather than twice: rolling 5-5 gives you four moves of five pips each.
7. Once all fifteen of your checkers have been moved into your home board (points 1 to 6), you may begin bearing off: removing checkers from the board by rolling the exact point number or a higher number when no checker sits on a higher point. A checker on the 4-point, for example, is removed by rolling a 4, 5, or 6.
8. If a roll is higher than any occupied point during bearing off, you remove a checker from the highest occupied point.
9. If a checker is hit while you are bearing off, it must re-enter the board from the opponent's home board and travel all the way back to your home board before bearing off can resume.
10. The doubling cube: at the start of any turn, before rolling, a player may offer a double by turning the cube to 2 and presenting it to the opponent. The opponent must either accept (taking ownership of the cube and agreeing to play at twice the stake) or resign and concede the current stake. The holder of the cube may re-double at any later point, turning the cube to 4, 8, 16, and so on. The initial stake is agreed before the game.

Winning and scoring

The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins. The game's scoring depends on how and when the game ends. A standard win (the loser has borne off at least one checker) counts as one point or one unit of the stake. A gammon occurs when the winner bears off all their checkers while the loser has borne off none: this counts as two points. A backgammon is scored when the winner bears off all their checkers while the loser has borne off none and still has one or more checkers on the bar or in the winner's home board: this counts as three points. All these values are multiplied by the current face of the doubling cube.

The fine points

The most common dispute involves the obligation to play: if a player can legally use at least one die, they must do so, and if both are usable but not simultaneously, the higher number takes precedence. A player who cannot use either die simply loses their turn with no penalty. Errors in checker placement are corrected without penalty if spotted before the opponent completes their following turn; after that the position stands. When bearing off, if you roll a 6 and your 6-point is empty but your 5-point has a checker, that checker is removed from the 5-point as it is the highest occupied point.

On the doubling cube, once an offer is made it cannot be withdrawn. If the opponent declines, the game ends immediately and they pay the pre-double stake. Crawford rule: in match play, when a player reaches one point from the winning score, the doubling cube may not be used for that game only; it becomes available again in subsequent games if the match continues. The Jacoby rule, common in money play, states that gammons and backgammons only count as more than a single point if the doubling cube has been used at some point in the game.

How to win more often

• Prime your opponent: six consecutive made points form a prime that any hit checker cannot pass, so build runs of made points in front of your opponent's rear checkers to trap them.
• Hit and cover: when you hit a blot, try to use the second die to bring another checker onto that point immediately, turning a blot into a made point rather than creating one yourself.
• Avoid leaving blots in your home board while your opponent has checkers on the bar; every point you leave open is a potential free entry for them.
• Bear off efficiently: when bearing off with no contact remaining, prioritise filling your lower points so that future high rolls remove checkers rather than wasting pips on movement.
• Use the doubling cube as a weapon: offer a double when your position is strong but the game is not yet decided. Accepting a double at the wrong moment is a frequent source of lost points for beginners.

Variations

Nackgammon

An opening position variant that places one fewer checker on each 6-point and one additional checker on each 23-point, creating a more complicated early game with greater risk of contact. It was designed to reduce the advantage of certain standard opening rolls and is popular among experienced players seeking a more tactical game from the first move.

Acey-Deucey

A variant traditional in the United States Navy in which all checkers begin off the board and must be entered before moving. Rolling a 1-2 (acey-deucey) gives the player a special turn: they play the 1-2, then name any double and play it, then roll again. The game is faster and considerably more luck-dependent than standard backgammon.

Hypergammon

Each player starts with only three checkers, placed on the 24-, 23-, and 22-points. The reduced checker count means games are very short and swings in fortune are dramatic. It is widely used as a teaching tool because the positions are simple enough to analyse completely with a computer, making it possible to study correct doubling and movement decisions in full.

Plakoto

A Greek variant in which a checker is pinned rather than hit: landing on an opponent's blot traps it beneath your checker until you move away. Pinned checkers cannot move. No checker is ever placed on the bar. The game rewards different positional thinking from standard backgammon and is traditionally played as part of a three-game set alongside Fevga and standard backgammon.

Backgammon: frequently asked questions