Backgammon
Backgammon Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Equipment and Setup
The board is divided into four quadrants of six points each. Each player has a home board (or inner board) and an outer board, separated by a ridge down the center called the bar. The points are numbered for each player from 1 to 24 starting at that player's own one-point (in their home board); the numbering runs in opposite directions for the two players.
Each player has fifteen checkers, set up as a mirror image of the opponent's:
- Two checkers on your 24-point.
- Five checkers on your 13-point.
- Three checkers on your 8-point.
- Five checkers on your 6-point.
You also need two dice, a dice cup for each player, and a doubling cube — a die marked 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 used to track the stakes.
Object of the Game
Move all fifteen of your checkers around the board into your own home board, then bear them off (remove them from the board). The first player to bear off all their checkers wins. Checkers always move in one direction — from higher-numbered points toward your one-point and off.
Starting and Rolling
Each player rolls a single die; the higher number goes first and plays those two numbers (their own die and the opponent's) as the opening move. If the numbers are equal, both re-roll. Thereafter players alternate, each rolling two dice at the start of their turn.
Moving the Checkers
The two dice show two separate moves. You may move one checker the total of both dice or two different checkers, one for each die. The number rolled is the number of points (pips) you move a single checker forward toward your home.
- A checker may be moved only to an open point — one that is not occupied by two or more of the opponent's checkers.
- The numbers on the two dice constitute separate moves. For example, with a 5 and a 3 you may move one checker 5 and another 3, or move one checker 8 pips — but only if the intermediate point (either the point 5 away or the point 3 away) is also open.
- Doubles are played twice: a roll of two of the same number lets you make four moves of that number.
- You must use both numbers of a roll if legally possible (all four for doubles). If only one number can be played, you must play that one; if either but not both can be played, you must play the higher one. If no legal move is possible, you forfeit your turn.
Hitting and Entering from the Bar
A point occupied by a single opposing checker is a blot. If you move a checker onto a blot, the blot is hit and placed on the bar.
- A player with a checker on the bar must enter it into the opponent's home board before making any other move. You enter by rolling a number corresponding to an open point in the opponent's home board (a 1 enters on the opponent's one-point, etc.).
- If neither number allows entry (both those points are blocked by two or more enemy checkers), you forfeit your turn. If you can enter some but not all checkers, you enter what you can, then forfeit the rest of the roll.
- Once all your checkers are off the bar, any unused portion of the roll may be played normally.
Bearing Off
Once you have moved all fifteen checkers into your home board, you may begin bearing off. You bear a checker off by rolling a number that corresponds to the point on which it sits (a 6 bears off a checker from your six-point, and so on).
- If there is no checker on the point indicated by a die, you must make a legal move using a checker on a higher-numbered point.
- If there are no checkers on higher points, you must (and may) bear a checker off the highest point that a die can reach.
- You are not obliged to bear off if you can make an otherwise legal move within your home board.
- If a checker is hit during the bear-off, it goes to the bar and you must bring it all the way around and back into your home board before bearing off any more.
The Doubling Cube
Backgammon is usually played for stakes per point, and the doubling cube lets a player who feels ahead raise them. At the start of the game the cube sits in the middle, available to either player, showing 64 (meaning 1).
- Before rolling on your turn, you may propose to double the stakes. Your opponent must either decline — forfeiting the game and the current stake — or accept, taking the cube (now showing 2) onto their side.
- Only the player holding the cube may make the next double (a redouble), and there is no limit to the number of doubles in a game.
- Beavers, Jacoby, and Crawford are optional tournament rules layered on top of the cube; the core rule is simply propose-before-you-roll, accept-or-forfeit.
Gammons and Backgammons
At the end, the win is worth the value shown on the doubling cube — but the margin of victory multiplies it:
- A normal win (opponent has borne off at least one checker) counts single (the cube value).
- If the loser has not borne off any checkers, it is a gammon, worth double the cube value.
- If the loser has not borne off any checkers and still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board, it is a backgammon, worth triple the cube value.
Optional Rules
- Automatic doubles: if identical numbers are thrown on the opening roll, the stakes double once (the cube is turned to 2 but stays in the middle). Usually a limit of one is agreed per game.
- Beavers: when doubled, a player may immediately redouble (a "beaver") while retaining the cube.
- The Jacoby rule: gammons and backgammons count only as a single game unless the cube has already been turned — commonly used in money play to encourage doubling.