How To Play Backgammon With Pictures

The players sit facing each other at opposite sides of the board when they play. Each player’s home board is positioned on the right quadrant closest to the player. The home boards are opposite each other, and so are the outer boards, which are located in the left quadrant. The player moves his checkers from the direction of the other player’s home board in a horse-shoe like direction, moving counterclockwise. The triangles are numbered from 1-24 in most of the Backgammon boards, with the 24th point being the furthest point from the player, and with 1 being the right most triangle on the player’s home court. The players must move their pieces from opposite sides of the board, so one player’s 1st point is the other player’s 24th point, one player’s 2nd point is the other player’s 23rd point, and so on.

Remember that each player has his own numbering system, so the checkers will not overlap.

If you want to double the stakes and your partner accepts, then the cube is turned to the new number and placed in your opponent’s court. He will have ownership of the cube and will be able to propose a doubling during any of his future turns. If your opponent does not accept your offer, he must forfeit the game and lose by the original stakes. You can keep doubling the stakes back and forth, or redoubling, but it’s not traditionally done more than three or four times in a game.

Make sure that you roll the dice to the right of your side of the board, from a reasonable height so that they bounce and roll a bit. If either of the dice lands on a checker, outside of the board, or leaning against the edge of the board, then it is not considered valid and you will have to reroll.

You can start with any checker you chose, but it is a good idea to get your checkers out of your opponent’s home board as soon as possible. You only need 2 checkers to block a point, but you can have as many of your checkers as you want on a single point. Remember that you can either move one checker twice or move two checkers once. For example, if you roll a 3-2, you can move one checker 3 points over and then 2 points over, as long as it lands on an open point both times. Alternately, you can move one checker 2 points over to an open point, and move another checker 3 points over to an open point.

Again, you can move four checkers 3 times, move one checker 12 times if it lands on an open point after every move, or mix it up and move two checkers 6 times, or one checker 3 times and another checker 9 times. As long as the total moves add up to 12 and each move lands in an open point, you’re in good shape.

This rule applies even if you roll doubles. If you can’t play the doubled number you’ve rolled, you lose your turn.

Any time a player’s checker is on the bar, he can’t move his other checkers until he gets the bar checker back on the home board.

For example, if you roll a 2, you can enter your piece on the 23 mark on your opponent’s home court, provided that it’s open. This is because you’re moving your checker two points over from the bar. You may not use the sum of the two numbers to choose a space. For example, if you roll a 6 and a 2, you cannot add them and move your piece onto the 8th point. You can only move your checker onto the 6th or the 2nd point to reenter.

If you have two checkers on the bar, you have to enter them both before you can move any other checkers. If you can only enter one checker during a dice roll, then you will have to try again on your next turn. If you have more than two checkers on the bar, you can only move your other checkers once all the checkers on the bar are entered.

For example, if you roll a 6-2, you can bear off two pieces that are on these points. But if you do not have a checker on the 6 point, you can bear it off from the next highest point on your board, such as the 5th or 4th point.

If the opposing player has a checker on the bar, then he can still enter it into a blot on your court if you have any, forcing you to take out one of your pieces and move it to the bar. After that, you can’t continue bearing off until it’s back in the home court.

If you still have a die to play and no checker to bear off, you must move a checker according to the number on the die. For example, if you only have two checkers remaining in the 6th and 5th points and you roll a 2-1, then you can move the checker on the 6th point over to the 4th point, and the checker on the 5th point over to the 4th point. You can use a higher roll to bear off a die on a lower point. If you roll a 5-4 and you only have a few checkers remaining in the 3rd and 2nd points, you can bear off two of these checkers. You must move a lower die roll before a higher one even if it means you can’t fully use the full value of a die. For example, if you have a checker in the 5 point and roll a 5-1, you must first move the checker over 1 to the 4 point and then bear it off using the 5 value.

A regular loss. This happens if you bore off all of your checkers first while your opponent was trying to bear off his checkers. Your opponent will lose only the value on the doubling cube. The gammon. If you bear off all of your checkers before your opponent bears off any of his, he is gammoned and loses twice the value on the doubling cube. The backgammon. If you bore off all of your checkers while your opponent still has checkers on the bar or your home court, then your opponent is backgammon and loses three times the value on the doubling cube.

If you want to keep playing more games but can’t do it in one sitting, you can keep a tally of the points lost by each player and return to the game at another time.