Backgammon Rules

1. Objective

Move all fifteen of your checkers around the board into your home board and bear them off before your opponent. The first player to bear off every checker wins.

2. Board, checkers, and direction

Backgammon has twenty-four narrow points, a bar in the centre, and a home board of six points for each player. Each player controls fifteen checkers and moves them in the opposite direction around the board. Your checkers must complete their route and enter your home board before they can be borne off.

3. Dice, turns, and legal movement

At the start of a turn, roll two dice. Each die is a separate move, so a roll of 3 and 5 can move one checker three points and another five points, or one checker eight points when the intermediate landing after three is legal. You must use both dice when possible. If only one die can be used, play the die that allows a legal move; when only one of two individually playable dice can be used, the higher die is required.

4. Doubles

When both dice show the same number, that number is played four times. The four moves may be shared among several checkers or combined on one checker, but every intermediate landing must be legal and all blocked points must be respected.

5. Open points and blocks

You may land on an empty point, a point occupied by your own checkers, or a point with one opposing checker. A point with two or more opposing checkers is blocked and cannot be entered.

6. Hitting a blot

Landing on a point with one opposing checker hits it and sends that checker to the bar. A checker on the bar must re-enter before that player can move any other checker.

7. Entering from the bar

A checker enters from the bar onto a point in the opponent’s home board according to a die roll. If the destination is blocked, that die cannot be used to enter. If no entry is possible, the turn ends without moving other checkers.

8. Bearing off and winning

You may bear off only after all fifteen of your checkers are in your home board. Use an exact die when a checker is positioned on the matching point. A higher die may bear off the checker on the farthest occupied point when no checker remains farther from the edge. The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins.

9. Choosing dice and move order

When both dice can be played in only one order, that order is required. When either order is legal, you may choose. If only one die can be played, you must use the die that permits a move; when both are individually playable but not together, the higher die is used.

10. Winning and resignation

The game ends as soon as one player bears off the last checker. A player can also resign or leave the table, in which case the remaining player is recorded as the winner according to the table result.