How to play Backgammon: rules, set-up and opening moves

The board and the set-up

The board has 24 narrow triangles called points, twelve on each side, split down the middle by the bar. Number the points from your own side: your 1-point to your 6-point are your home board, and your 24-point is the furthest from home, in the other player's home board. Your 24-point is their 1-point.

The other player sets up the same way from their side, so the two positions mirror each other. Your checkers travel from your 24-point down towards your 1-point; theirs travel the opposite way.

Rolling and moving

To begin, each player rolls one die. The higher roll goes first and plays those two numbers. If the dice are equal, roll again. After that the players take turns to roll two dice.

1. Each die is one move. With a 5 and a 3 you may move one checker 5 and another 3, or one checker 5 and then 3 (or 3 and then 5), as long as the point it rests on in between is open.
2. Open points. A checker may land on an empty point, on a point with your own checkers, or on a point with exactly one checker of the other side. A point holding two or more of the other side is closed.
3. Doubles count twice. A roll of 4-4 is four moves of 4.
4. You must use the roll. Play both numbers if there is any way to do so. If either number can be played but not both, play the higher. If neither can be played you lose the turn.

Any number of your checkers may share a point.

Hitting and entering

A single checker on a point is a blot. If you land on the other player's blot it is hit and placed on the bar.

A player with a checker on the bar must bring it back into play before moving anything else. It enters in the other player's home board, on the point that matches a die: a 1 enters on their 1-point (your 24-point), a 2 on their 2-point, and so on. The point must be open. If both numbers rolled are closed, the turn is lost.

A player who holds all six points of their home board has a closed board. A checker on the bar cannot come in until one of those points opens.

Bearing off

When all fifteen of your checkers are in your home board you may start to bear off: take checkers off the board for good.

1. An exact roll takes a checker off: a 4 bears off a checker from your 4-point.
2. Or move inside the board. You may use a number to move a checker down within your home board instead.
3. A number that is too high takes off a checker from your highest occupied point, but only when no checker stands on a higher point than the number rolled.

If one of your checkers is hit while you are bearing off, it must enter and travel all the way round to your home board before you can take off any more.

Winning, gammons and the doubling cube

On Yuzool the standard game is a single game: a gammon or a backgammon is named when it happens, and the game counts as one win. The values in the table apply when you play a match with the doubling cube.

The doubling cube is a die marked 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64. It is used when games are played for points, usually in a match to a set total.

1. The game starts worth 1 point with the cube in the middle, available to both players.
2. Before rolling, a player who thinks they are ahead may offer to double the stake.
3. The other player may refuse, giving up the game at its current value, or accept and take the cube at 2.
4. Only the cube's owner may make the next double, to 4, and so on.

A useful guide for accepting: take a double if you would win the game at least one time in four. Giving up always costs the current stake, and playing on at twice the stake costs less on average when your chances are 25% or better.

On Yuzool the cube is a Pro rule option, played as a match to 3 or 5 points with gammons worth 2 and backgammons 3. The Crawford rule, automatic doubles and beavers are not used.

Opening moves

Since each player rolls one die to start, the first roll is never a double. A few opening rolls make a valuable point at once, and good players almost always take them. The notation 8/5 means "move a checker from the 8-point to the 5-point".

With other rolls the usual choices are to bring a checker down from the mid-point as a builder for a new point, or to move one of the back checkers up.

Strategy for beginners

• Points beat blots. Two checkers on a point cannot be hit and stop the other player landing there.
• Build a wall. Points next to each other in front of the other player's back checkers are hard to get past. Six in a row cannot be passed at all.
• Know the numbers. A blot six or fewer points in front of an enemy checker can be hit by a single die and is in real danger. One that needs both dice is much safer.
• Hit early, but not at any cost. A hit costs the other player the distance that checker had travelled. Hitting in your own home board with a blot can cost you more if you are hit back.
• Keep an anchor. A point you hold in the other player's home board gives you a safe place to enter all game.
• Count the race. Add up how far each side has to go. Each side starts with 167 pips. If you are well ahead, avoid contact and run. If you are behind, keep contact and wait for a shot.

• Stacking six or seven checkers on one point where they do no work.
• Running both back checkers separately and leaving two blots.
• Breaking your home board points while the other player still has a checker on the bar.

Common variations