Backgammon Game Guide

Welcome to our Backgammon game guide where we will look at the game’s basic rules and how to get started if you have never played Backgammon before.

Backgammon is a board game for 2 players, which you play on a Backgammon board that has 24 narrow triangles called points, and with 15 checkers each. The board has four quadrants with six triangles each. You call these quadrants a player’s home board and outer board. Then there is the opponent’s home board and the opponent’s outer board. There is a ridge in the middle of the backgammon board called a bar. This separates your home and outer boards from each other.

How to Start (refer to picture 1)

To learn to play Backgammon, you will have to look at the screenshot below. This is what the board will look like when you start to play. Let’s say you are playing with the black checkers whereas your opponent will play with the red. You can call the colour pieces on the board checkers, pieces, men, or soldiers.

Picuture 1 Picuture 2

To start, you will have to move your checkers from right to left if you are playing red and from left to right if you are playing black. This only describes the picture above, you can also rearrange the colours and place red checkers where black are now and visa versa.

How to Play (refer to picture 2)

The idea is to bring all your checkers to your home area (marked A) by following the green arrows and protecting them from your opponent. The outer area is marked B and the middle of the board is the bar (marked C) where checkers go after they are hit, before they can re-enter the game.

Remember that a lone checker is a weak one that your opponent can hit at any time. You should therefore try to place two more checkers in that row to form a block and protect it against your rival.

Your strategy should be to block your opponent in as many positions as possible while you can continue moving freely. The best way to do this is to form strategic blocks and rows. Enjoy the game and remember that practice makes perfect.