Rules & Variants
Everything you need to sit down at any board, anywhere in the world, and play with confidence.
Objective
Move all 15 of your checkers around the board into your home board, then bear them off before your opponent does. The first player to bear off all their checkers wins.
Setting up the board
The board has 24 triangular points, grouped into four quadrants of six. Each player places their 15 checkers in the standard starting position and moves toward their own home board, in opposite directions from their opponent.
Rolling and moving
Players roll two dice and move checkers that many points, either as one checker moving both numbers or two checkers moving one number each. Rolling doubles lets a player move four times instead of two.
Hitting and the bar
A point held by a single opposing checker (a 'blot') can be hit and sent to the bar. A checker on the bar must re-enter the game through the opponent's home board before any other move is made.
Bearing off
Once all 15 of a player's checkers are inside their home board, they may start bearing off, removing checkers exactly as the dice indicate. The first player to bear off all checkers wins the game.
The doubling cube
Before rolling, a player may offer to double the stakes. The opponent must accept, raising the value of the game, or resign at the current value. This element of risk and negotiation is unique to backgammon and central to advanced strategy.
Regional variants
Backgammon has evolved into distinct regional games, each with its own rules and character.
International Backgammon
The modern tournament standard played worldwide, using the doubling cube and the setup described above. This is the version taught in this guide.
Turkish Tavla
In Turkey, 'tavla' refers to a family of games sharing the same board: Adi Tavla (close to standard backgammon, no doubling cube), Moultezim ('the trapped one', where a checker cannot leave the bar-point until it is freed), and Gülbara, which introduces special rules for the 6-point and 1-point.
Greek Tavli
Tavli is a match of three games played in sequence: Portes ('doors', close to standard backgammon), Plakoto (checkers can be pinned in place rather than hit), and Fevga (a running game with no hitting at all, played in the same direction by both players).
Narde (Long Backgammon)
Played across Russia, Iran, and the Caucasus, all 15 checkers start on one point and there is no hitting — pure racing strategy, popular under names like nardy and narde.
Acey-Deucey
Popular with the US Navy, checkers start off the board and are entered as play begins. Rolling a 1-2 grants a special bonus move, adding a unique tactical layer.
Hypergammon
A fast, high-variance variant with only three checkers per player, popular for short games and for studying pure probability.
Nackgammon
A modern variant devised by Nack Ballard with a different starting position, designed to reduce early-game repetition and reward deeper contact play.
Mahbusa
Played across Egypt, Mahbusa ('imprisoned') is closely related to Turkish Moultezim: a checker can be trapped on an opponent's point and held in place instead of being hit, only freed once the trapping checker moves away.