Backgammon Rules

The game of backgammon is one of the most popular table games around the globe. If you are unfamiliar with the rules of backgammon or simply need some clarification on the finer points, you've come to the right place! Expert backgammon includes everything you need to know about backgammon, for example; how to play the game, go through the various rules that can differ from one online backgammon providers to another, plus a whole host of appropriate information for those who have limited knowledge of the game.

First of all, both players move their checkers in opposite directions, generally counter clockwise. Once all checkers are within your ‘home’ section of the board, you can start taking pieces off.

To start the game each player rolls 1 dice. The player who rolls the highest number gets to roll the first once the game begins. Let’s say you won the dice playoff and you get to roll first. Your first roll comes out as 5-3. Usually you want to keep checkers in pairs or higher on the same triangle. If you leave a checker on its own, it will be exposed to being hit. If your checker is then hit by your opponents checker it is placed on the bar (the middle part of the board). This means for the time being that the checker is out of play and you must roll the dice for it to be placed back into the game. The hit checker then has to start at your opponents ‘home’ and you must attempt to move it back to your ‘home’. If you roll doubles, you may move up to 4 times of the number rolled. For example, if you roll 5-5 you can move one checker 5 triangles 4 times. Alternatively you can move 2 checkers 5 triangles twice, etc.

The above paragraph only includes the basic rules of backgammon, there are many variations and strategies when playing online backgammon, but these are the fundamental rules. If you wish to learn more backgammon rules in detail, we at expert Backgammon have a detailed backgammon rules pages within our site. If you click on the appropriate tab it will include information regarding the intricacies of other backgammon variants as well as different approaches to Backgammon rules and gameplay.