Backgammon rules: how to play, step by step

Each player has 15 checkers. You move them all the way around the board into your home board, then take them off: the first player to bear off all 15 checkers wins the game.

Games are usually played as part of a match. Each game won is worth one or more points, and the first player to reach the agreed total, for example 5 or 7 points, wins the match. The dice decide a lot in a single game; over a match, good decisions add up.

Unfamiliar words? Our backgammon glossary explains them one by one.

Twenty-four points

The board has 24 points, the long triangles, in four groups of six. Each player numbers them from their own side, from 1 to 24: your 1-point is your opponent's 24-point, your 13-point is their 12-point, and so on. Guides and match records write moves with these numbers (13/7 means from your 13-point to your 7-point): see backgammon notation.

Home board, outer board and the bar

Your points 1 to 6 form your home board, and points 7 to 12 your outer board. Points 13 to 24 are your opponent's side of the board: their outer board, then their home board. Down the middle runs the bar, which separates the home boards from the outer boards. It's where hit checkers wait before coming back into play.

The starting position

Both players set up their 15 checkers the same way, each counting from their own side:

• 2 checkers on the 24-point, in your opponent's home board: your back checkers;
• 5 checkers on the 13-point, the midpoint, in your opponent's outer board;
• 3 checkers on the 8-point, in your outer board;
• 5 checkers on the 6-point, in your home board.

Which way you move

Your checkers always move forward, from higher points to lower ones: out of your opponent's home board, across both outer boards and into your own home board. Your opponent travels the same path in the opposite direction. On the diagram, the dark checkers move counterclockwise and the light checkers clockwise.

This is the setup of standard backgammon, the game played on Megammon. Other games use the same board with a different start or different rules, from nackgammon to Turkish tavla and Greek tavli: see backgammon variants.

Each player rolls a single die. The player with the higher number goes first and plays both numbers showing, their own die and the opponent's, as their first move. If the two dice match, both players roll again. That's why the first move of a game is never a double.

Wondering how to play your first roll? See the best backgammon opening moves for all 15 rolls.

After that, the players take turns rolling both dice and moving their checkers.

Each die is a separate move

The two numbers rolled are two separate moves. With 5-2, you can move one checker 5 points and another 2 points, or a single checker 5 then 2 (or 2 then 5). When one checker plays both numbers, it stops in between, and that stop must be a legal landing spot too: it's two moves, not one jump of 7.

Where a checker can land

A checker may finish a move on:

• an empty point;
• a point you already hold, whatever the number of your checkers there;
• a point with exactly one opposing checker, a blot: you hit it (see below).

A point with two or more opposing checkers is blocked: your opponent has made that point. You can't land there or stop there midway, but you can jump over it.

Doubles

When both dice show the same number, you've rolled a double and play that number four times. With 4-4 you have four moves of 4 points, shared among one to four checkers as you like.

You must use the whole roll

You must play both numbers whenever the rules allow it, even if you'd prefer not to. If both can be played only in a certain order or with a certain checker, you have to play them that way. If only one of the numbers can be played, you play it; if either could be played but not both, you must play the larger one. With a double, you play as many of the four moves as you can.

When no number can be played at all, your turn is over. And if only one legal move exists, it's a forced move: you have to make it, good or bad.

Hitting a blot

A single checker alone on a point is a blot. When an opposing checker lands on it, at the end of its move or as a stop along the way, the blot is hit and placed on the bar. The hitting player then plays the rest of their roll normally.

Being hit is expensive: the checker has to start its journey over from the beginning, and the farther it had traveled, the more ground you lose in the race.

Entering from the bar

As long as you have a checker on the bar, you can't move any other checker. To bring it back, or enter it, you need a number that matches an open point in your opponent's home board: a 1 enters on your 24-point (their 1-point), a 6 on your 19-point (their 6-point). Once nothing of yours is left on the bar, you play the rest of the roll as usual.

Dancing and the closed board

If neither number lets you enter, you dance: your turn is over. With two checkers on the bar, both must come in before anything else moves; if only one enters, the rest of the roll is lost. When your opponent holds all six points of their home board, a closed board, you can't enter at all and lose every turn until a point opens.

When to hit, and when to play safe, is a strategy question: see our guide on when to hit in backgammon.

Once all 15 of your checkers are in your home board, you may start removing them from the board: this is bearing off. A die removes a checker from the point of the same number: a 4 bears off a checker from your 4-point.

You don't have to bear off: you can also use a number to move a checker inside your home board. And if you roll a number higher than your highest occupied point, you bear off a checker from that highest point: with a 6 and nothing above your 4-point, a checker comes off your 4-point.

A higher number can only be used that way when no checker sits on a higher point. Roll a 5 with checkers on your 6-point but none on your 5-point, and you must move a checker 5 points within the board, here from your 6-point to your 1-point.

If one of your checkers is hit during the bear-off, it must enter from the bar and come all the way back to your home board before you can bear off again.

Once you know the rules, the technique matters: our guide to bearing off shows how to bear off fast in a race and safely against contact.

The first player to bear off all 15 checkers wins. How much they win depends on how far the loser got:

Those values are then multiplied by the doubling cube: a gammon with the cube on 4 is worth 8 points.

When to play for a gammon, and how to save one when you're losing: see our guide to gammons in backgammon.

The doubling cube is a large die whose faces read 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64. It lets you raise the stakes when you think you're ahead, and it forces your opponent to decide on the spot whether their position is worth playing for twice as much.

At the start, the cube sits in the middle showing 64, which here means a value of 1, and belongs to nobody.

Offering a double

At the start of your turn, before you roll, you may offer to double the stakes if the cube is in the middle or on your side. Once you've rolled, it's too late for this turn.

Take or pass

Your opponent has two options:

• Take (or accept): the game goes on at twice the value, and your opponent now owns the cube, which moves to their side.
• Pass (or drop): they give up the game at once and lose its value before the double: 1 point if the cube was still in the middle.

Owning the cube and redoubling

Only the cube's owner can double next: that's a redouble. If your opponent took at 2, they alone may later offer 4; if you take, the cube comes back to your side, and so on. Owning the cube is an asset: your opponent can't double you out of the game, and you choose when to raise the stakes.

Optional rules in money play

Two popular options exist only in money play, where each game is settled on its own:

• Beaver: a player who is doubled can immediately redouble while keeping the cube. A double to 2 then becomes a game worth 4, and the cube stays with the player who beavered.
• Jacoby rule: gammons and backgammons count as single games unless the cube has been turned during the game. It encourages doubling a clear advantage instead of quietly playing on for a gammon.

Neither applies in match play. Games on Megammon are always played as matches, so you won't meet them there.

Knowing the rules is the start; knowing when to use the cube is the skill. See our backgammon doubling strategy guide.

Matches to N points

A match is played to an agreed number of points, often an odd number such as 5, 7 or 11. Each game adds its value (single, gammon or backgammon, times the cube) to the winner's score, and the first player to reach the target wins the match. On Megammon, ranked matches are played to 1, 3, 5 or 7 points, with the cube from 3 points up.

The Crawford rule

The first time a player gets one point away from winning the match, the next game, the Crawford game, is played without the doubling cube. Without this rule, the trailing player could double at once in every game at no risk, since losing any game would end the match anyway.

Once the Crawford game is over, the cube is back for the rest of the match. These games are called post-Crawford, and the trailing player usually doubles at the first opportunity. Example: in a 5-point match at 4-2, the next game is the Crawford game; if the trailing player wins it as a single game, the cube is back in play at 4-3.

Playing your first live event? Formats, the clock and over-the-board etiquette are in our guide to backgammon tournaments.

Want the full picture of scores, Crawford, free drops and DMP? Our guide to backgammon match play expands this section.

Why the score changes everything

In a match, the goal is to win the match, not to collect as many points as possible. The same position can call for different decisions at different scores: a gammon is worth nothing to a player who needs a single point, but it can decide the match for one who needs two. A take that's clear in money play can become a pass when losing that game would end the match, and the other way around.

That's why strong players reason in match winning chances, the probability of winning the whole match, rather than in points. The Megammon Engine evaluates the decisions of your matches the same way.

Online, the rules stay the same, but a clock keeps the game moving. On Megammon, each player in a ranked match gets a time bank of 2 minutes per point of the match: 10 minutes each for a 5-point match. Every time you have to act, whether rolling, moving or answering a double, you first get a 12-second delay: your bank only starts running once it has elapsed. An empty bank loses the match.

Good habits

• Keep a steady pace. The delay covers most routine moves: save your bank for the difficult decisions.
• Finish what you start. Closing the page doesn't stop your clock.
• Resign rather than stall. If a match is beyond saving, resign it: your opponent gets the points they still needed, and nobody waits for a clock to run out.
• Trust the dice. Megammon's server rolls them with a cryptographically secure random number generator: no player can influence them.
• Playing a friend? When you challenge one, you pick the settings: 1 to 13 points, with or without the cube, 1 to 3 minutes per point.

Knowing the rules is one thing; playing well is another. These habits cost beginners the most:

• Leaving blots for no reason. A blot within 6 points of an opposing checker can be hit with a single number. Leave one only when it buys something, such as the chance to make an important point next turn, or as part of a planned blitz.
• Giving up the midpoint too early. Your 13-point is a safe stopover for checkers coming around from the back, and a supply of checkers to build your home board. Break it too soon and your back checkers lose their landing spot.
• Forgetting the back checkers. If they stay put while your opponent builds a prime, a row of consecutive points that blocks the way, they can end up trapped. Plan their escape early, or hold an anchor, a point made in your opponent's home board. See which anchor to aim for and backgammon priming.
• Ignoring the race. Check the pip count. Far ahead? Avoid contact and head home. Far behind? Keep contact and wait for a chance to hit.
• Stacking checkers. Two checkers are enough to hold a point; piling five or six on it leaves the extras idle. Spread them out to make new points.
• Misjudging the cube. Beginners tend to double too late and pass too often. A simplified guide for money play: leaving gammons and the value of owning the cube aside, a double is worth taking if you win at least one game in four.

Each of these habits deserves a closer look: our guide to common backgammon mistakes explains why they cost games and how to fix them.

Ready for the next step? Our guide to backgammon strategy explains the five game plans and when to use each. To track your progress, see how to get better at backgammon: what your PR means and how to lower it.