If you want to learn how to play Backgammon, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve documented a complete set of backgammon rules to help new players learn the fundamentals of how to play backgammon.

Backgammon is a board game played by two players. The board has four quadrants, or squares. Each quadrant is printed with of 6 long, thin triangles, called points; 24 points in all. Each half of the board is referred to as the home board or the outer board. There is a ridge going down the center of the board separating the outer and home boards. This ridge is called the bar.

Each point is numbered, 1 thru 24, on each player’s side of the backgammon board. So Player A’s #1 point is also Player B’s #24 point. The player’s #1 point is directly in front of them, the #24 point on the opposite side. Both players will start with 15 round game pieces, known as checkers. Each player’s checkers are arranged as follows:
5 checkers on the #6 point
3 checkers on the #8 point
5 checkers on the #13 point
2 checkers on the #24 point

The object of backgammon is to move all of your checkers around the board into your home quadrant, then bear them off (remove them from the board). The player to bear off all of his or her checkers first wins the game.

Each player has two dice. Generally the player with the white checker plays first.

The player will roll both dice. The total of the dice will tell the player how many points he may move his checker(s). He may choose to move a single checker the total amount of both dice, or move two checkers, each using the amount of each dice.

For example, the player rolls 4+5. He may move one checker 9 points, or move one checker 4 points, and anther checker 5 points.

A checker may only move if it lands on an open point. An open point is any point that is not occupied by two or more of the opponent’s checkers. If the point is empty of checkers, contains only one of the opponent’s checkers, or contains the player’s own checker(s), it is considered open. Checkers may only move towards the player’s own home quadrant, in order of the point numbers, 24 thru 1.

When a player rolls doubles, he is able to make double moves. If the player rolls 4+4, he can move a up to 4 checkers, up to 16 points. He could move 1 checker 16 points or 2 checkers 8 points each. He could also move 1 checker 4 points, and another checker 12 points, or move 1 checker 4 points, another checker 4 points, and then another 8 points. Or he could move 4 checkers, 4 points each.

In some cases, a player will not be able to move according to the dice rolled, due to a lack of open points. If it is possible to move checkers according to the dice rolled, the player must do so. If there is no legal move to be made, the player passes. If one checker can move only the amount of times shown on one dice, the player is limited to using only the one die rolled on one checker.

When a player moves his own checker onto a point that contains only 1 of his opponent’s checkers, it is called Hitting the opponent. A single checker on a point is called a Blot. When a Blot is Hit, it is moved to the Bar.

Anytime a player has one or more checkers on the bar, he must re-enter it onto the opponent’s home board on his next play, if it is a legal move. If the player rolls 3+6 on his next turn, he must move a checker from the bar, either onto the opponent’s point #3 or #6 (the player’s point #22 and #19), using one of the corresponding dice rolls to do so.

If the opponent’s #3 point is not open, he must use the #6 point. If the player has two checkers on the bar, and both point #3 and #6 are open, he must enter both checkers onto the board. If neither point is open, he may move a different checker on the board instead of entering from the bar.

In order to win, a player must bear off all of his checkers from the board. A player may only start bearing off checkers once all 15 of his own checkers are in his home quadrant.

In order to bear off a checker, the player must roll a number that equals the amount of moves required to bear off. For example, a checker on the player’s #1 point can only bear off if a 1 is rolled. A checker on the #6 point can only bear off if a 6 is rolled, or two dice equaling 6.

A checker may move a lower number of points than the required bear off amount, but cannot move higher than the required amount to bear off. For instance, if a player has one checker on the #3 point, it cannot move if a 4 or higher is rolled on a single dice.

When playing backgammon for real money, players are able to double the stakes throughout the game. There is Doubling Die specifically used for this purpose. The Doubling Die has six sides, containing the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64.

Before the game begins, the stakes are agreed upon. A player who has a substantial advantage over his opponent may, at the very start of his own turn, before rolling the dice, propose doubling the stakes.

The opponent has two options – accept the doubling of the stakes, or forfeit the game and pay the current stakes. Each time the stakes are double, the Double Die is turned to reveal the new multiple of the stakes - 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 or 64.

For example, if the stakes are doubled three times to 8, the losing player would pay 8x the original stake. If the original stake was $5, the winner would receive $40 ($5 x 8).