Contents
Backgammon Basics
The Backgammon Board
How to Set Up a Backgammon Board
How to Play Backgammon
The Doubling Cube
Opening Moves in Backgammon
How to Count Pips in Backgammon
The Backgammon Running Game
The Blocking Game
The Back Game
Strategies for Bearing Off
How to Win with the Doubling Cube
Backgammon Matches
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The Backgammon Board
Usually made of wood covered in leather or felt, a backgammon board is a rectangle with 24 long, triangular markings called points. The points alternate between two colors.
Though there’s no real significance to the colors of the points, their contrasting colors make it easy to count moves. Each point can accommodate any number of checkers.
Notation for Naming the Points
To make it easier to discuss moves and strategy, backgammon players sometimes use backgammon notation.
The simplest notation, and the one used in this guide, numbers the points 1–24. 1 is at the lower right, and the numbers increase clockwise around the board up to 24 at the
upper right.
The Bar
In the middle of the board, separating points 6 and 7 and points 18 and 19, is an area called the bar. The bar does not count as one of the points.
The Regions of the Board
A backgammon board is divided into four quadrants. Backgammon rules and strategies are easier to understand if you know the names and locations of these four regions:
- White’s inner board: Extends across points 1–6
- White’s outer board: Extends across points 7–12
- Black’s inner board: Extends across points 13–18
- Black’s outer board: Extends across points 19–24
When playing backgammon, your goal is to move your checkers around the board to your inner board. In other words, you’re moving your checkers away from your opponent’s inner board and toward your own inner board.
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