Backgammon rules: how to play backgammon and Turkish tavla

Rules in short: move your fifteen checkers around the board by the dice, hit lone enemy checkers, bring everyone home and bear off first. This page covers the full rules, scoring, the doubling cube, the differences between backgammon and Turkish tavla, beginner strategy and common questions.

Setup Opening moves Glossary Strategy FAQ

The board and starting position

The board has 24 narrow triangles called points, in four quarters of six. Your home board and your outer board face your opponent's home and outer boards, and the bar down the middle divides them. Points are numbered 1 to 24 from your side: your 1-point is the deepest point in your home board, and you move from 24 toward 1 while your opponent moves the other way.

Each player has fifteen checkers. The standard starting position for each side is:

• two checkers on the 24-point (deep in the opponent's home board),
• five checkers on the 13-point (the midpoint, in the opponent's outer board),
• three checkers on the 8-point (in your outer board),
• five checkers on the 6-point (in your home board).

Counted in pips, the distance every checker still has to travel, both players start at 167. Turkish tavla uses exactly the same starting position.

Who goes first

Each player rolls one die and the higher number starts; equal dice are rolled again. On Snug Table the starting player then rolls both dice for the first move, as in Turkish tavla. Many backgammon clubs play the opening dice themselves as the first move instead; the strategy is the same either way. In later games of a match, the winner of the previous game starts.

Goal

Bring all fifteen checkers into your home board and bear them off. The first player to bear off every checker wins the game.

Moving

Roll two dice and move checkers forward by the numbers, one checker per die or both dice with one checker. Doubles are played four times. A point with two or more enemy checkers is blocked. You must play as many dice as you legally can.

Hitting and the bar

A single checker on a point is a blot. Landing on it sends it to the bar; a player with checkers on the bar must re-enter them in the opponent's home board before moving anything else.

Bearing off

Once all fifteen checkers are in your home board you may bear them off by exact dice, or with a higher die if no checker sits on a higher point.

Backgammon scoring

A normal win scores 1 point. A gammon (the loser has not borne off any checker) scores 2, a backgammon (the loser still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board) scores 3. The doubling cube multiplies the result; the Crawford rule disables the cube for one game once a player is a point from winning the match.

How Tavla differs

Tavla is the Turkish game on the same board: no doubling cube and no Crawford rule. Winning before the opponent bears off any checker is a mars and counts 2 points; there is no backgammon triple.

Fair dice

Before the first roll you see the SHA-256 hash of a secret seed. Every die is HMAC-SHA256(seed, "die:" + index), first byte below 252, mod 6, plus 1. When the game ends the seed is shown and the "Fair dice" badge recomputes every roll in your browser. How fair dice work, and a checker for any game.

The doubling cube

In backgammon matches the stakes can rise during a game. The cube starts in the middle at 1. Before rolling, a player may offer a double. The opponent either takes, plays on for twice the stake and now owns the cube (only they may redouble next), or passes and loses the game at the current value. A gammon or backgammon is multiplied by the cube, so a gammon with the cube on 4 is worth 8 points. Tavla is played without the cube.

Good opening moves

The first roll matters because some numbers build a valuable point right away. These are the standard replies most strong players use:

• 3-1: 8/5 6/5, making your 5-point, the best point to own early.
• 4-2: 8/4 6/4, making your 4-point.
• 6-1: 13/7 8/7, making your bar point (the 7-point) and blocking the back checkers.
• 5-3: 8/3 6/3, making your 3-point.
• 6-5: 24/13, running one back checker all the way to the midpoint ("lover's leap").
• Other rolls: bring builders down from the midpoint or split the back checkers, for example 2-1 as 13/11 6/5 or 24/23 13/11.

Backgammon glossary

Point

One of the 24 triangles. You "make" a point when two or more of your checkers stand on it; the opponent cannot land there.

Blot

A single checker on a point. It can be hit.

Hit

Landing on a blot, which sends that checker to the bar.

Bar

The strip in the middle of the board where hit checkers wait to re-enter.

Dance

Failing to enter from the bar because every entry point is blocked; the whole turn is lost.

Anchor

A point you hold in your opponent's home board. It gives your back checkers a safe landing spot.

Prime

Several made points in a row. Six in a row is a full prime that no checker can jump.

Pip count

The total number of pips your checkers must still move to bear off. The lower count is ahead in the race.

Bearing off

Removing checkers from the board once all fifteen are home.

Gammon, backgammon, mars

Bigger wins: see scoring above. Mars is the Turkish name for a gammon.

Cube, take, pass

The doubling cube, accepting a double, and declining it.

Crawford game

The single game in a match, right after one player reaches one point short of winning, in which the cube may not be used.

Strategy for beginners

• Make points, especially your 5-point and bar point. Points in front of the opponent's back checkers slow them down and give your hit checkers fewer places to come in.
• Count shots before leaving a blot. A blot six pips away from an enemy checker can be hit by 17 of the 36 possible rolls; one twelve pips away by only 3.
• Know your game plan. If you are well ahead in the pip count, race: get your checkers home and avoid contact. If you are behind, keep anchors and wait for a shot.
• Do not stack too many checkers on one point. Five or six checkers on the 6-point look safe but do no work. Spread them so they can build new points.
• Hit when it gains a lot. Hitting costs your opponent pips and a tempo, often worth more than a quiet safe move.
• Use the coach. After each game the free coach marks your mistakes and shows the move it prefers on the board.

A short history

Race games on a board with dice are among the oldest games we know: boards several thousand years old have been found in Mesopotamia and Persia, and the Romans played a close ancestor called tabula. The game spread around the Mediterranean and the Middle East, where it is still the everyday coffeehouse game known as tavla in Turkey and tavli in Greece. The English name backgammon appears in the 17th century. The doubling cube was added in the 1920s in New York and turned backgammon into the match game played in tournaments today.