How to Play Backgammon: Rules, Setup and Winning Strategy

The board and the setup

The board has 24 narrow triangles called points, in four groups of six. The quarter where your checkers finish is your home board. A strip in the middle, the bar, holds checkers that have been hit.

Each player starts with fifteen checkers placed in the same standard pattern: two on the farthest point, five on the point at the opposite side of the board's middle, three on a point in the outer board and five on a point in your home board. The two sides move in opposite directions around the board. On boardflix your light checkers travel from the top right along the top, down the left side and along the bottom to your home board in the bottom right.

How a turn works

1. Roll two dice.
2. Move checkers by the numbers shown. You can use one number for one checker and the other number for a different checker, or both numbers for the same checker.
3. If you roll doubles you play that number four times instead of two.
4. You must use as many numbers as you legally can. If you can only play one number, you must play the larger one if possible.

Points, blots and hitting

You cannot land on a point that holds two or more opposing checkers. That is called a blocked point. Two or more of your own checkers on a point make a point of your own, which is safe and blocks your opponent.

A single checker on a point is a blot. If an opponent lands on it, the blot is hit and goes to the bar. A player with a checker on the bar must bring it back into play in the opponent's home board before moving anything else, and if there is no open space to enter, the turn is lost.

Bearing off and how to win

Once all fifteen of your checkers are in your home board you can start bearing off, which means removing them from the board. You remove a checker with an exact roll, or with a bigger roll if you have no checker on a higher point. The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins the game.

This version of backgammon has no doubling cube and no extra score for a gammon: every game is a single win.

Strategy for beginners

• Make points. Two or more checkers together cannot be hit and block your opponent. Points in your home board are the most valuable.
• Avoid leaving blots where the opponent has many ways to hit them early in the game.
• Build a row of points next to each other. A wall of connected points can trap checkers behind it.
• Use the pip count shown under the board. It adds up how far each side still has to travel and tells you who is ahead in the race.

Playing the race and the fight

When you are well ahead in the race, avoid contact and run for home. When you are behind, hold a strong point in your opponent's path and wait for a chance to hit. Whether a blot is worth the risk depends on how many dice rolls would hit it and how much the hit would cost you.

A checker on the bar is very costly because you lose the pips you had travelled and some tempo. That is why making your home board points early, so that a hit checker finds it hard to enter, is one of the strongest plans.

Common mistakes

• Racing ahead with one checker and leaving it alone.
• Leaving several blots at once.
• Breaking a good point just to make a small move.
• Forgetting that a checker on the bar must enter first.

Playing backgammon on boardflix

Roll the dice and the board highlights the checkers that can move. Numbers you have already used fade out, and Undo moves lets you take back a move before you finish your turn. Choose Easy, Medium or Hard against the computer, or play a friend on one screen. In a private room the dice are rolled on the server, so every roll is fair.

Frequently asked questions