Do You Really Know the Backgammon Rules?

Backgammon is often learned at the kitchen table, passed from one player to the next, and small errors creep in along the way. Some of them barely matter; others change the game completely. Below are the rules people most often get wrong, each with the correct version. For the full rulebook, see our backgammon rules page.

Who moves first, and with what roll

A common house rule is that the first player rolls both dice and plays them. In the standard game, each player rolls a single die. The higher number moves first, and that player uses both numbers just thrown, one from each die, as the opening roll. If the two dice show the same number, both players roll again. This is why the first move of a game can never be a double.

Direction of movement

You will sometimes hear that "everyone moves counterclockwise." In fact, the two players always move in opposite directions, toward their own home boards. Whether your own path runs clockwise or counterclockwise depends only on how the board is set up; it is a mirror image for your opponent.

Each die is a separate move

Checkers do not have to move in pairs. A roll of 5 and 2 gives you two moves: one checker moves five pips and one checker moves two, or a single checker moves seven, provided it can stop on an open point after the first part. A point is open unless it holds two or more of your opponent's checkers.

You must use the whole roll if you can

This is the rule most often missed. If both numbers can be played, you must play both, even when you would rather not. If only one can be played, you must play that one; and if either number could be played but not both, you must play the larger one. If nothing is legal, you lose the turn.

Doubles mean four moves

Rolling the same number on both dice lets you move that number four times. Double sixes give four moves of six pips each, which can be split among one to four checkers. Doubles come up on average once every six rolls (6 of the 36 possible outcomes).

The bar comes first

When one of your checkers is hit, it goes to the bar, and you may not move any other checker until it has re-entered in your opponent's home board. If the entry points that your dice allow are all blocked, you cannot move at all that turn.

Bearing off has a precondition

The goal is not just to bring checkers home but to remove all fifteen from the board. You may start bearing off only when all fifteen of your checkers are in your home board. If one of them is hit during the bear-off, you must bring it back around before you can remove any more.

Cocked dice

Dice must be rolled into the half of the board to your right and must land flat. A die that lands on a checker, on the bar, off the board or tilted is "cocked," and both dice are rolled again.

Not every win is worth the same

If the loser has not borne off a single checker, the winner scores a gammon, worth two points. If the loser also still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board, it is a backgammon, worth three. In match play, the doubling cube can multiply these values further.

Tournaments and match play

Clubs and tournaments play the same core rules, with a few additions: matches are played to a set number of points, the Crawford rule is commonly used, and directors may set rules on clocks and on how dice are thrown. If any of the vocabulary above was new to you, the glossary explains each term.