Backgammon notation: how to read and write moves

The board has 24 points, and each player numbers them from their own side: your 1-point is the deepest point of your home board, your 24-point is the deepest point of your opponent's. Your checkers always move from higher numbers to lower ones, and they leave the board after the 1-point.

Because each side counts from its own home, the two numberings mirror each other: your point N is your opponent's point 25 − N. Your 13-point, the midpoint, is their 12-point; your 20-point is their 5-point. A move is always written in the numbering of the player who makes it.

• Points 1 to 6: your home board, where you bear off.
• Point 7: your bar point, just outside your home board; points 7 to 12 form your outer board.
• Point 13: your midpoint, in your opponent's outer board.
• Points 19 to 24: your opponent's home board, where your back checkers start (on the 24-point) and where you enter from the bar.

In the starting position, each player has 2 checkers on their 24-point, 5 on their 13-point, 3 on their 8-point and 5 on their 6-point — the same layout as in the rules. The same numbers give each checker's distance home, which is how a pip count works.

A move is written start point / end point. 8/5 means “move a checker from the 8-point to the 5-point”. A full turn lists both dice, usually after the roll: 3-1: 8/5 6/5 means you rolled 3 and 1, moved one checker from the 8-point to the 5-point (the 3) and another from the 6-point to the 5-point (the 1), making your 5-point.

• The roll is written 3-1 or 31; the order of the two dice doesn't matter, and neither does the order of the parts of the move: 6/5 8/5 is the same play as 8/5 6/5.
• One checker using both dice is written once, start to finish: with 6-5, 24/13 moves one back checker 11 pips to the midpoint. Some texts show the stop on the way, 24/18/13; both mean the same thing.
• Two checkers from different points can meet on one point: with 6-1, 13/7 8/7 moves two checkers from different points onto the same point.
• A play that can't use every die simply lists what was played. When no move is legal, the turn shows the roll with no move.

Every opening move chart is written this way: 4-2: 8/4 6/4, 6-1: 13/7 8/7, 6-5: 24/13. Reading one of those lines and setting it up on a board is the quickest way to make the numbers stick.

Three more marks cover everything else that happens to a checker:

• An asterisk (*) marks a hit. It goes right after the point where the opposing blot was hit: 13/7* moves a checker from your midpoint to your 7-point and sends the checker there to the bar. See when to hit for the strategy side.
• A hit on the way is shown with its stop. If one checker hits with the first die and keeps going with the second, the hit point stays in the move: 24/18*/13 hits on your 18-point, then carries on to the 13-point. Without a hit, the stop is usually left out.
• “bar” is where a hit checker restarts. bar/22 enters a checker from the bar onto your 22-point (your opponent's 3-point); a 1 enters on your 24-point, a 6 on your 19-point. Some files write the bar as 25: 25/22.
• “off” means borne off. 6/off takes a checker off from your 6-point; 6/off 2/off bears off two checkers with 6-2. Some files write off as 0: 6/0. More in bearing off.

A roll of doubles is played four times, so a doubles move can have up to four parts. To keep it short, a number in brackets says how many checkers make the same move:

• 6-6: 24/18(2) 13/7(2) — two checkers from the 24-point to the 18-point, and two from the 13-point to the 7-point: four sixes in all.
• 4-4: 13/5(2) — two checkers each travel 8 pips, from the 13-point to the 5-point, using two fours each.
• 2-2: 8/4(2) — two checkers each travel two twos from the 8-point to the 4-point, via the 6-point; Megammon writes the run once as 8/4(2). Some texts spell out the stops as 8/6(2) 6/4(2) when different checkers make each step.

So (2) multiplies checkers, not dice. 13/5(2) with 4-4 is two checkers moving 8 pips each; it does not mean one checker moving twice from 13 to 5. When you replay a doubles move, count the pips: the parts must add up to four times the number rolled, unless the position blocks some of them.

A match file — the plain-text kind with a .mat ending, or a transcript pasted into a forum or an email — lists every turn of a game in two columns: the first player on the left, the second on the right. Each line starts with a turn number, then each player's roll and move, each in their own numbering.

Read it line by line. In turn 1, the left player makes the 5-point and the right player splits a back checker to their 18-point and brings one down to their 9-point. In turn 2, the left player's 13/7* lands on that same checker: the right player's 18-point is the left player's 7-point (25 − 18 = 7). The right player then enters with bar/21 and plays 13/7 with the 6.

Before the first game, a header gives the match length (“7 point match”), then each game starts with “Game 1”, “Game 2”… and both players' scores before that game. Rolls are usually written without a hyphen (31 rather than 3-1).

Transcripts record the doubling cube and the end of each game in plain words, on the line of the turn where they happen:

• Doubles => 2 — the player offers the cube, which would go to 2 (a redouble shows the new value: Doubles => 4).
• Takes — the opponent accepts; the game goes on with the cube at the new value. More on the decision in doubling strategy.
• Drops (sometimes Passes) — the opponent refuses and loses the game at the current cube value.
• Wins 2 points — the game result, after the last move or the dropped cube; Wins 4 points and the match closes a match.

Wins 2 points can mean a single game with the cube on 2, or a gammon with the cube on 1: the result line gives points, not the reason. Match scores are often discussed as “2-away / 3-away”, which is explained in match play.

Notation describes moves. To share a whole position — every checker, the cube, the score, whose turn it is — players use one-line text codes instead:

• An XGID records the complete position, cube, score, match length, turn and dice in one line of text.
• A Position ID records where the checkers stand; it comes with a Match ID for the cube, the score and the dice.

With a free Megammon account, paste either code on the Position page to analyze the position; the analysis shows each candidate move in the notation from this guide.

The notation is simple, but a few slips come up again and again:

• Reading the opponent's move in your own numbering. Their 13/7 is not your 13/7; flip it with 25 − N. The same trap catches players counting pips: see count the opponent from their side.
• Taking 24/13 for two checkers. One start and one end is one checker using both dice. Two checkers making the same move can be compacted with (2), as in 13/5(2); checkers from different points stay separate parts, as in 13/7 8/7.
• Reading (2) as “twice the distance”. It means two checkers make the move, each one with its own dice.
• Moving in the wrong direction. Your checkers always go from higher numbers to lower numbers; a move like 5/8 is not a legal move for the player who wrote it.
• Ignoring the asterisk. 13/7* and 13/7 are different plays: one puts an opposing checker on the bar, the other doesn't.

Notation sticks once you use it on real games. On Megammon you can play the bot with no sign-up, play a friend, or play ranked matches online, then read your own games back move by move.

Next steps: learn the best play for each of the 15 opening moves, then read how errors are measured in the PR guide. Unsure of a term along the way? The glossary has them all.