How to Play Backgammon: Rules and Setup

Backgammon is a race game where you move all 15 checkers into your home board and bear them off before your opponent.

Learning how to play backgammon doesn’t take long — the rules are simpler than chess, and a single game rarely lasts more than 15 minutes. The appeal is the mix: dice decide your options, but your choices decide who wins. Before you sit down, get the pieces right. You need 15 checkers per player in contrasting colors, two standard six-sided dice, and the board itself — 24 narrow triangles called points, arranged in four quadrants of six and divided by the bar in the middle. Most sets include a doubling cube marked 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64, which players use to raise the stakes mid-game.

The Starting Position: Where Every Checker Goes

Setting up correctly matters more than beginners expect — a wrong starting layout changes the whole opening. The standard position uses a simple 5-3-5-2 pattern for each player, mirrored on opposite sides of the board.

• Place 2 checkers on your 24-point — the farthest point from your home board.
• Place 5 checkers on your 13-point, often called the midpoint.
• Place 3 checkers on your 8-point.
• Place 5 checkers on your 6-point.

Your opponent mirrors this exactly on their side. Each player’s home board is the six-point quadrant where checkers enter and eventually leave — points 1 through 6 on your own side. The 13-point midpoint and the bar between quadrants become important as the game unfolds, especially when checkers get hit.

How A Turn Works: Moving, Hitting, And Bearing Off

Each turn begins with a roll of two dice, and the numbers shown are your available moves. You can move one checker by one die and another checker by the other, or move a single checker by both numbers in sequence if the path stays legal.

When both dice show the same number — a double — you play each die twice, giving you four moves of that value. That’s a common beginner slip: treating doubles as a single move instead of four, which slows your race considerably.

What Makes A Move Legal?

A point is open unless it holds two or more of your opponent’s checkers. You must land on an open point, and you can’t pause partway through a move on a blocked point. Points with two or more checkers are closed and safe.

Once all 15 checkers reach your home board, you begin bearing off. Roll to remove checkers matching the die values; if you roll a number higher than any remaining checker’s position, you may bear off your farthest checker. The first player to clear all 15 wins. If you’re ready to buy a real board, our roundup of the best backgammon sets covers quality options for every budget.

Common Mistakes New Players Make

Most errors come from rushing. Misplacing the starting checkers is the most frequent — the layout is 5-3-5-2, never a random scatter. Others try bearing off before every checker reaches the home board, which isn’t allowed. Many also forget the doubling cube alters only the stakes, not the movement rules — it’s a scoring device, not a piece that moves.

Use that number to gauge who’s ahead.

FAQs

Can you move a checker onto a point with two or more opponent checkers?

No. A point occupied by two or more of your opponent’s checkers is closed and cannot be landed on, paused on, or passed through when using both dice sequentially. You must find another legal move with that die value, or forfeit that portion of your turn if no legal move exists.

What happens if neither die allows your checker on the bar to re-enter?

When a checker sits on the bar, re-entry must happen first. If neither die value matches an open point in your opponent’s home board, you forfeit the entire turn — no other piece may move. After your opponent plays, you roll again and try to re-enter on your next turn.

How do you determine who goes first in backgammon?

Each player rolls one die; the higher number moves first and uses both rolled values for their opening move. If both players roll the same number, you reroll until one beats the other. This single rule sets the entire pace of the opening.