How to play
Backgammon
The goal
Each side has 15 checkers that travel around the board into their "home" (the last six points) and are then borne off. The first to bear off all 15 wins. White moves from point 24 down to 1 (home: points 1-6); Black moves from 1 up to 24 (home: 19-24).
Rolling and moving
- Opening roll: one die each; the higher die moves first, using both dice (a tie is rerolled)
- A normal turn rolls two dice: move one checker or two, one per die · doubles are played four times
- You may land on an empty point, one with your own checkers, or one with a single opposing checker (it is hit onto the bar) · a point with two or more opposing checkers is blocked
- Both dice must be played when possible; if only one can be, the larger one. With no legal move the turn is lost (the game skips it for you)
The bar and hitting
A hit checker goes to the bar in the middle. A side with a checker on the bar must enter it into the opponent's home first (White enters at 25 − the die, Black at the die); until it can, nothing else may move.
Bearing off
Once every checker is in its home, they may be borne off: with the exact die, or with a larger die from the farthest checker. A checker hit while bearing off must come all the way round again.
Scoring
- A plain win is 1 point
- Gammon, 2 points: the loser has borne off nothing
- Backgammon, 3 points: and still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home
- There is no doubling cube in this game
The leaderboard
Beat the computer and enter a name and country. Boards are per computer level, ranked by points won, then by the pips the opponent had left (a more dominant win ranks higher). The server replays every move with the same dice before a win counts.
Tips
- Make "points" (two or more checkers on a point) next to each other: they form a wall the opponent cannot pass
- A lone checker (a "blot") within six points of an opposing checker is the easiest to hit
- In the race home (no more contact), watch the pip count: fewer pips wins