Backgammon rules: quick reference

This page puts the rules of backgammon on one screen, in short points. It is meant to sit next to the board when a question comes up mid-game. For explanations and examples, read the full guide on how to play backgammon. The basic rules are the same everywhere; tournaments add scoring rules for matches but do not change how the checkers move.

Goal

Move all 15 of your checkers into your home board, then bear them all off. The first player to bear off all 15 wins.

Setup (for each player)

You move from your 24-point toward your 1-point. Your opponent moves the opposite way. More on orientation: board setup.

Starting the game

• Each player rolls one die. Higher number moves first, using both dice as rolled.
• Tie: both roll again. The first move is never a double.
• Roll both dice together into the right-hand half of the board. A die that lands off that half, on a checker, or not flat: roll both again.

Moving

• Each die is a separate move. One checker may take both numbers if it stops on an open point in between.
• Open point: empty, your own checkers, or one opposing checker.
• Closed point: two or more opposing checkers. You may not land there.
• Doubles: play the number four times.
• Play both numbers if you legally can. If only one can be played, play it. If either can be played but not both, play the larger.
• No legal move: the turn is lost.

Hitting and the bar

• Landing on a single opposing checker (a blot) hits it. It goes to the bar.
• A checker on the bar must enter before any other move.
• It enters in the opponent's home board on the point matching a die: a 1 enters on your 24-point, a 6 on your 19-point.
• Entry point closed: that number cannot be used. Both closed: turn lost.

Bearing off

• Allowed only when all 15 checkers are in your home board.
• A die removes a checker from the matching point, or moves a checker inside the home board.
• If the die is higher than your highest point with a checker, remove a checker from the highest point.
• If one of your checkers is hit, stop bearing off until it is back home.

Scoring

All values are multiplied by the number on the doubling cube.

Doubling cube (match play)

• The cube starts in the middle at 1 and shows 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64.
• Before rolling, a player may double. The opponent drops (loses the game at the current value) or takes (play continues at double value).
• The taker owns the cube; only the owner may redouble.
• Crawford rule: when a player first reaches one point short of winning the match, no doubling in the next game.
• Jacoby rule (used outside matches): gammons and backgammons count only if the cube has been turned.

Rules people often get wrong, such as the larger-number rule and bearing off from higher points, are covered in know your rules.