Do You Really Know the Backgammon Rules?

Backgammon is often learned at a kitchen table, and house habits spread quickly. Some of them are harmless, but a few change the game in a real way. Below are the rules that casual players most often get wrong, with the correct version. If you need the basics first, start with how to play backgammon or the one-page rules cheat sheet.

Myth: you can choose to play only one die

You must use both numbers if there is any legal way to do it. You cannot skip one die because you like your position as it is. If several plays are possible, you may pick any of them, as long as it uses both numbers.

Myth: if only one die can be played, pick either

When you can play one number or the other but not both, you must play the larger one. Only if the larger number has no legal move at all do you play the smaller. If neither can be played, your turn passes. This rule comes up rarely, but it decides real games, especially when one side is badly blocked.

Myth: checkers move in pairs

Each die is a separate move. You can move two checkers, one with each number, or one checker with both numbers in turn. When one checker uses both numbers, each step must land on an open point. With 6-1 you cannot jump a checker seven points if both the point six away and the point one away are blocked.

Myth: doubles mean you move twice

A double gives you four moves of that number, not two. A roll of 3-3 is four steps of three, which you can spread across up to four checkers. This is why doubles are so strong: there are 6 doubles among the 36 possible rolls, and each one moves twice as far as an ordinary roll of the same number.

Myth: you can bear off with a checker outside your home board

Bearing off starts only when all fifteen of your checkers are in your home board. If one of them is hit during the bear-off, you stop removing checkers until that checker has entered from the bar and come all the way back home.

Myth: a high roll is wasted during the bear-off

If you roll a number higher than your highest occupied point, you take a checker off that highest point. For example, with checkers only on your 4-point and below, a 6 removes a checker from the 4-point. But if you have a checker on a higher point than the number rolled, you must move a checker from a higher point instead of removing one from a lower point. A 2 does not take a checker off the 1-point while you still have checkers that can move two.

Myth: you can move other checkers while one is on the bar

A checker on the bar must enter before you move anything else. If you have two on the bar, both must enter first. If only one can enter, it does, and the rest of the roll is lost.

Myth: any roll counts

In clubs and tournaments, the dice must land flat on the board, in the half to the player's right. A die that lands on a checker, tilts against the edge or leaves that section is cocked, and both dice are rolled again. Many players also treat a move as finished once the dice are picked up, so take your time before you lift them.

Myth: the low roller can go first if you agree

By the standard rules, the higher opening die moves first and plays both opening numbers. Friends can agree on any house rule, but it is worth knowing which rules are house rules before you join a club or an online match.

Tournament differences

Tournaments add procedures rather than new movement rules: matches to a set number of points, the doubling cube with the Crawford rule, dice cups and clocks. The way checkers move is the same everywhere. For a look at house and match variations, see rule variations.