The rules of backgammon

One of the oldest board games in the world. A race, a fight, and a betting game in one — the first to bear all fifteen checkers off the board wins.

1 · Objective

Each player has 15 checkers. Move them around the board into your home board (the six points nearest you on your right), then bear them off — remove them from the board entirely. The first player with zero checkers left wins.

2 · The board and the starting position

The board has 24 triangular points, numbered 1–24. Each side starts with:

• 2 checkers on the 24-point (your opponent's 1-point)
• 5 checkers on the 13-point (midpoint)
• 3 checkers on the 8-point
• 5 checkers on the 6-point

Both players start with a pip count of 167 — the total pips their checkers must travel.

3 · Moving

• Roll two dice. Each die moves one checker that many points — or move one checker twice, once per die.
• You may land on an open point: empty, your own, or holding a single enemy checker (a blot).
• A point with two or more enemy checkers is blocked — you cannot land there.
• You must play both dice if legally possible. If only one die can be played, you must play it — and if either die alone is playable but not both, you must play the higher one.
• If no legal move exists, you lose your turn.

4 · Doubles

Rolling doubles (e.g. 4-4) means you play four moves of that number — 4-4 plays four fours.

5 · Hitting and the bar

• Landing on an enemy blot (a single checker) hits it: the checker is placed on the bar in the middle of the board.
• A player with checkers on the bar must re-enter them first, before moving anything else — entering into the opponent's home board on the point matching a die.
• If both entry points are blocked, the checker stays on the bar and the turn is lost. A fully closed home board (all six points made) means no entry at all.
• Two or more checkers on a point are safe — they can never be hit. Making points is how you protect checkers and block your opponent.

6 · Bearing off

• Once all 15 of your checkers are in your home board, you may start bearing them off.
• Roll the exact number for a point to bear a checker off it. You may also bear off from your highest occupied point with a larger die — e.g. roll 6 with checkers only on the 4-point and below, and you may bear off from the 4-point.
• If a checker gets hit while you are bearing off, it goes to the bar and you must bring it all the way around again before resuming.
• If you can bear off but also have another legal move, the normal "use as many dice as possible" rule still applies.

7 · The doubling cube

• The cube starts in the center, worth 1 point. Before rolling, on your turn, you may double: offer to continue the game for twice the stakes.
• Your opponent may take (play on, and take ownership of the cube — only the owner may double next) or drop (lose the game immediately at the current value).
• Redoubles continue: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64.
• Double when you are a clear favorite; take when you still have roughly a 1-in-4 chance or better. The Strategy School covers this in depth.

8 · Gammons and backgammons

• Single game — winner scores the cube value (1 if the cube was never touched).
• Gammon — the loser hasn't borne off a single checker: the winner scores double.
• Backgammon — the loser hasn't borne off a checker and still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board: triple.

9 · Matches and the Crawford rule

• Serious backgammon is played as a match: first to 3, 5, 7 (or more) points wins. Gammons and cube decisions shape the whole match, not just one game.
• Crawford rule: when a player is exactly 1 point from winning the match, the next game is played without the doubling cube — the leader can't be doubled out of the match on a lucky game. The cube returns for the game after.

Ready? Go to the board →

Strategy school

Backgammon is a game of skill with dice in it — the dice decide what you can do, but the odds decide what you should do. Every number below was computed by enumerating all 36 possible dice rolls. No guessing.

1 · The dice, exactly

• There are 36 equally likely ordered outcomes (1-6 and 6-1 count separately).
• Doubles come up 6 times in 36 — one roll in six. They play as four moves, so they matter more than their frequency suggests.
• The average roll moves 294/36 ≈ 8.17 pips (counting doubles as four moves). Use this to estimate races: divide the pip difference by ~8 to guess how many rolls ahead someone is.

2 · How likely is a hit? Direct shots

A direct shot is a blot exactly N pips in front of an enemy checker. The table gives how many of the 36 rolls hit it — assuming the intermediate landing points are open:

Notice the cliff: a blot 6 away is hit by 17 of 36 rolls (47%) — nearly half. A blot 7 away is hit by only 6 of 36 (17%), because 7 can't be rolled on a single die and needs a combination. Distance 6 is the most dangerous in backgammon; distances 7–12 are far safer than they look.

Useful combinations (same assumption):

So: leaving a blot where the enemy can hit it with a 6 or a 5 is almost always punished. Leaving it 8+ away is a calculated risk, not a blunder.

3 · Getting off the bar

With one checker on the bar, your chance to enter against a home board with that many points closed:

With two checkers on the bar, the chance to enter both:

Two lessons: a 5-point home board already enters only 11/36 — hitting your opponent when you own five home-board points is devastating. And a second checker on the bar roughly squares the misery — avoid going up 2-0 on the bar.

4 · Blots: exposure, diversification, duplication

You can't avoid leaving blots — you can only choose which risks to take.

• Count the exposure. Before leaving a blot, check the distance to the nearest enemy checker and read the odds above. A blot 6 away (47%) needs a strong reason; a blot 9 away (14%) is routine.
• Diversify. If you must leave two blots, leave them at different distances, so no single roll hits both. Two blots at the same distance can be cleaned up by one lucky number; split distances force your opponent to get lucky twice.
• Duplicate. The mirror image: when your opponent has blots, arrange your builders so the same number hits either way — e.g. force them to need a 6 to escape wherever they are. One number doing double duty is the cheapest attack in the game.
• Don't pay for safety you don't need. Tiptoeing with small moves to avoid a 14% shot while wrecking your position is worse than taking the hit. Blots get hit; positions win games.

5 · The points that matter

• Your 5-point (point 5 for White, point 20 for Black) is the most valuable point on the board. It blocks the opponent's escape, anchors your prime, and is brutally hard to make later. Make it early and almost never break it.
• Your bar-point (7 for White, 18 for Black) is the next priority — it extends your home board into a prime and unstacks your midpoint.
• An anchor is a made point in the opponent's home board (their 5-point, 4-point, or bar-point). It gives your back checkers a safe home, kills gammons, and lets you play boldly elsewhere.
• A prime is 4+ consecutive made points; six in a row (a full prime) traps everything behind it. Build primes facing the direction your opponent must travel.
• Don't stack. Four or more checkers on one point are two wasted — they could be making a new point instead. Unstack the midpoint (13) and the 6-point whenever you can do it safely.

6 · Opening ideas

• 3-1: make your 5-point (8/5 6/5). The dream opening — take it every time.
• Split or slot, don't stack. With 2-1, 4-1, 5-1: bring a back checker out (split to the 11 or 10) and/or slot your 5-point. Movement beats piling up.
• Hit when you can cover. An early hit that also makes a point — landing safely instead of leaving a return shot — is one of the strongest plays in the game.
• Don't make your 1-point early. The ace-point is deep, blocks nothing, and strands checkers. It's the weakest point to own in the opening.

7 · Racing vs contact

• When neither side can hit anymore, it's a race: pip count is everything. Ahead in the race? Simplify — trade checkers, avoid contact, bear off efficiently. Behind? You need contact: hit, slow the leader down, or you'll just lose slowly.
• Rule of thumb: each roll is worth ~8.2 pips. A 10-pip lead ≈ one roll; a 25-pip lead ≈ three rolls — usually decisive.
• In contact positions, timing matters more than pips: can you hold your anchor until your board is ready to attack? Don't break contact (and start the race) while you're behind.

8 · The doubling decision

• Money game: take the double if you win roughly 25% or more — the pot odds justify it. Double when you're a solid favorite (around 65–70%+) and the position is volatile enough that your edge might evaporate.
• Race leads double well. A clear pip lead with no contact is the classic double: your opponent's only hope is a lucky sequence of rolls, and the cube punishes exactly that.
• Gammons change everything. If you might win double or triple points, double earlier; if you might lose a gammon, drop earlier.
• Match score matters. The leader protects the lead (doubles less eagerly at 2-away); the trailer can double aggressively — redoubling to 4 when the match is on the line costs nothing extra if you'd lose the match anyway. And remember: no cube in a Crawford game.

9 · Bearing off cleanly

• Bear off from the highest occupied point first; don't leave gaps that waste big numbers.
• Keep checkers evenly spread across your home board — a stack on the 6-point with an empty 4-point bleeds pips.
• With no contact, it's pure arithmetic: take checkers off, don't move them around. Every roll that doesn't remove a checker is a roll wasted.
• If your opponent still has a checker back, keep one point made until they're safely past — one late hit can flip a won game.

10 · Five beginner mistakes

1. Leaving blots 6 away without realizing it's a 47% hit — the single most common leak.
2. Refusing to hit. Hitting gains ~25 pips of tempo; beginners leave free shots on the table.
3. Making the 1-point instead of the 5-point. Deep points look safe and do nothing.
4. Never doubling. If you're clearly ahead and the cube sits in the center, you're donating equity.
5. Playing the dice instead of the position. Ask "race or contact?" first — then the right move is usually obvious.

Now try it with the coach watching: Play with hints on →