Learning Backgammon: A Step-by-Step Path for Beginners

Search for "learn backgammon" and you will find more material than anyone could read. The problem for a beginner is not a lack of information but knowing what to learn first. Backgammon is easiest to pick up in stages, each built on the one before. Here is a path that works for most new players.

Stage 1: the board and the setup

Start by learning the board until you can set it up without looking. There are 24 narrow triangles called points, grouped into four quarters of six. Each player has fifteen checkers: two on the opponent's 1 point (the 24 point from your side), five on the opponent's 12 point (your 13 point, often called the midpoint), three on your 8 point and five on your 6 point. Know which quarter is your home board and which way you move.

Stage 2: the basic rules

Next, learn how a roll is played: each die is a separate move, doubles are played four times, and you must use the whole roll whenever you legally can. Then learn hitting, the bar and re-entering, and finally bearing off. Play a dozen slow games concentrating only on legal moves. Our backgammon rules page covers every detail.

Stage 3: the opening moves

There are only fifteen possible opening rolls, because doubles are rolled again at the start. Learning the standard replies to each takes an evening and immediately improves your play. Start with the four that make a point: 3-1 makes your 5 point, 4-2 your 4 point, 6-1 your bar point (7 point) and 5-3 your 3 point.

Stage 4: safety and risk

Now learn when a single checker, a blot, is in danger. A blot six pips away from an enemy checker is hit by 17 of the 36 possible rolls; one eleven pips away is hit by only 2. A small table of these numbers, found on our backgammon probability page, will guide hundreds of decisions. The aim is not to avoid all risk, but to take risks that are worth it.

Stage 5: counting the race

Learn to count pips: the total distance your checkers must travel to bear off. Each side starts at 167. Once you can count quickly, you will know whether to race for home or keep contact and wait for a shot.

Stage 6: strategy and game plans

With the basics in place, study the main strategic ideas: making points in your home board, building primes, holding an anchor, and choosing between attacking and playing safe. This is where the game becomes deep, and where most of your learning will happen for years.

Stage 7: bearing off and the endgame

Many games are decided in the bear-off. Learn to distribute checkers evenly across your home board so that you do not waste pips, and how to bear off safely when your opponent still holds a point in your board.

Stage 8: match play and the cube

Finally, learn match play. Matches are played to a set number of points, and the doubling cube lets a player offer to double the value of the current game in match points. Knowing when to double, take or pass, and how the score changes those decisions, is the last major skill. See our page on the doubling cube.

How to practice

Play often, but also review. A free analysis program can show you your biggest mistakes after each game, and a few minutes spent on them teaches more than another hour of play. Mix games against a program with games against people, and do not rush from one stage to the next; it is better to master a few ideas than to half-know many.