Backgammon

Backgammon is one of the oldest games in the world, if not the oldest. References to games very similar to backgammon have been found in ancient texts dating back over 5,000 years. Variants of backgammon have been played by ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Iranians, Romans, Persians and many others.

In recent history, Backgammon enjoyed an immense swell in popularity when the first world backgammon championships were organized in the 1960s. The combination of luck and advanced strategy has made backgammon one of the most popular board games in the history of the world.

Backgammon Rules

The object of Backgammon is to move all of your checkers past your opponent's checkers and into your own home board. Once all of your checkers are in your home board, you may begin removing them from play (bearing them off). The first player bear off all of his checkers wins the game. The checkers begin at opposite sides of the board and move around the board in the horseshoe shape depicted by the diagram below:

To begin the game, both players roll a single die. The player who rolls the highest number moves his checkers according the numbers shown on both dice. From that point on, players alternate turns and use two dice to determine their moves.

Movement

Each player begins his turn by rolling two dice. He then gets to move his checkers around the board and to his home board according to the following rules:

1. The player must move his checkers according to the number shown on each die, not as a sum of the total roll. For example, if a player rolls a 5 and a 6, he may move one checker 5 places (pips) and another checker 6 pips. He may also use one checker for both moves. He can move it 5 pips first and then 6 pips, but he can not move it 11 pips all at once.

2. When the same number is rolled on both dice, it is called "doubles." When a player rolls doubles, he gets to move twice as far. For example, if a player rolls 3 - 3, he can move 4 checkers forward 3 spaces each.

3. Checkers may not land on points occupied by two or more of an opponent's checkers.

4. Checkers may land on points that have a single opposing checker in them. Checkers that have been hit are placed in the bar, the area in the middle of the board. The owner of checkers in the bar can get his checkers out of the bar by rolling the dice. These checkers then enter the play area by the number of pips showing on the dice, starting from the opponent's home board.

5. If a player has any checkers in the bar, he may not move any other checkers until he gets all of his checkers out of the bar.

Bearing Off

Backgammon is won by being the first player to bear off all of his checkers. A player may begin bearing off his checkers after all of his checkers have made it to his home board. To begin bearing off, a player rolls the dice to determine which checkers may be removed. For example, if a player rolls a 4, then a checker may be removed from the four point.

If a player rolls the dice and there are no checkers on the required point, one of two things happens. First, if there are any checkers beyond the point indicated by the dice, he must move those forward as a regular move. If there are no checkers beyond the point, he may then remove a checker from the farthest point.

For example, if a player only has checkers on the one, two and three points but rolls a 4, he may remove a checker from the three point. If that same player had a checker on the six point in this scenario, he would be required to move that checker forward four points.

Doubling

Each backgammon game starts out being worth one point but at any point, a player may offer to play the game for twice the current stakes. If the other player refuses to double the stakes, he must immediately concede the game. If the other player accepts, a special dice with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 (the "doubling cube") is placed with the number 2 face up.

If a player accepts the double, he is then said to "own the cube." From that point on, only the player who owns the cube may propose an increase in stakes. If that player later on feels he has the advantage in the match, he may propose another double. This can go back and forth as many times as the players wish.

Would you like more Backgammon information? If so, take a look at our Backgammon Strategy page