Backgammon

Overview

Two players race fifteen checkers each around a board of twenty-four points and off the far end. The dice set the pace; choosing which checkers to move is the entire game.

One of the oldest games still played.

How far this page is checked. Backgammon's movement rules aren't published by any governing body as a rulebook. The U.S. Backgammon Federation Tournament Rules (effective January 2025, a concise rendition of the World Backgammon Federation's tournament rules) cover tournament procedure: the cube, the Crawford game, illegal moves and gammons. Those parts of this page are checked against it. The movement rules below are the universally played ones, but no official document was found to check them against.

1. Setup

The board has 24 narrow triangles — points — in two colours, divided into four quadrants of six. Each player has a home board and an outer board.

Each player's fifteen checkers start in the same mirrored arrangement:

Point	Checkers
24-point	2
13-point	5
8-point	3
6-point	5

Both players move toward their own home board — points 1 to 6. The two players move in opposite directions around the board.

2. Moving

Roll two dice. Each die is a separate move.

A roll of 5 and 3 lets you move one checker five points and another three — or one checker five, then three.

Can you move the same checker twice?

Yes. Playing both dice with a single checker is completely legal and often correct.

The only condition is that each leg must land on a legal point. With 5 and 3, the checker must be able to stop legally after the five and after the three. If the intermediate point is blocked, you may be able to play 3 then 5 instead — try both orders.

Can you move backwards?

No. Checkers only ever move toward your own home board. There is no reverse move in backgammon.

What confuses people is that the two players travel in opposite directions, so your opponent's checkers appear to be going backwards relative to yours.

Doubles

Rolling doubles gives you four moves of that number, not two. A roll of 4-4 means four moves of four.

Legal landing points

A point is open to you if it holds:

• no checkers,
• your own checkers, or
• exactly one enemy checker.

A point with two or more enemy checkers is blocked.

You must use both dice if a legal play exists. If only one can be played, you must play the higher one. If neither can be played, you forfeit the turn.

3. Hitting and the bar

Landing on a point holding a single enemy checker — a blot — sends it to the bar.

A player with a checker on the bar must re-enter it in the opponent's home board before making any other move. Entry uses a die matching an open point. If no entry point is open, the entire turn is lost.

This is the defining tension of the game: a checker sent back from your home board must travel the full length again.

4. Bearing off

Once all fifteen checkers are in your home board, you may start bearing off.

• A roll of 6 removes a checker from the 6-point, a 5 from the 5-point, and so on.
• If the exact point is empty, you must make a legal move within the home board instead.
• If no checker sits on any higher point, you may bear off from the highest occupied point.

Getting hit while bearing off sends you back to the bar, and you must bring that checker all the way round again before resuming.

5. Scoring

Result	Points
Single — loser has borne off at least one checker	1
Gammon — loser has borne off none	2
Backgammon — loser has borne off none and still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board	3

6. The doubling cube

Before rolling, either player may offer to double the stake.

The opponent either declines and concedes the current value, or accepts and takes sole ownership of the cube — only they may offer the next double.

The cube is what makes backgammon a game of judgement rather than dice. Knowing when to double, and when to accept, is most of the skill at high level.

Beavers — an optional money-play rule letting the accepting player immediately redouble while keeping the cube. They aren't part of tournament rules.

The Crawford rule (match play)

Under the tournament rules, the doubling cube is out of play for the first game after either player is exactly one point from winning the match: the Crawford game. The cube is also dead for a player who would win the match by winning the game at the current cube level. Any cube action in those situations is void.

Illegal moves in tournaments

Both players must point out illegal moves. Depending on the tournament's policy, an illegal move must be corrected if noticed before the opponent's next roll, or the opponent chooses whether to correct it or let it stand.

Only bearing off a checker saves a gammon. The tournament rules say so in terms.

Commonly argued

• You can move one checker twice with a single roll, provided both legs land legally.
• You can never move backwards. The opponent only appears to, because they travel the other way.
• Doubles give four moves, not two.
• You must play both dice if you legally can, and the higher one if only one is playable.
• A single checker can be hit. Two or more on a point are safe.
• You must bring all fifteen home before bearing off — including one sent to the bar at the last moment.