How to play backgammon: a beginner's guide

Backgammon looks busy at first, but each turn is just two small decisions: which checkers to move with each die. This tutorial plays through a first game step by step, then gives you a plan for the opening, three ways to win the middle game and the habits that keep your checkers safe. Keep the Backgammon board open in another tab and try each idea as you read.

What you will learn

• How a game flows, from the opening roll to the last checker borne off
• A solid play for every opening roll
• The three main game plans: running, priming and blitzing
• How to count shots and decide when a blot is worth the risk
• Beginner mistakes to avoid and a simple practice plan

If you need a refresher on a rule while you play, the backgammon rules and setup guide covers all of them.

Your first game, step by step

1. Set up and find your route. Your 15 checkers start on your 24-, 13-, 8- and 6-points. You move from the 24-point, through your opponent’s side, around to your home board (points 1 to 6). Your opponent moves the opposite way. On this site the board is set up for you.
2. Roll for the start. Each player rolls one die and the higher number goes first, playing both numbers. Suppose you roll a 3 and your opponent a 1: you start with 3-1.
3. Make a point with your opening. The strongest use of 3-1 is 8/5 and 6/5: one checker from your 8-point and one from your 6-point both land on your 5-point. You now own a valuable point in your home board and have no blots.

4. Watch your opponent’s reply. Say they roll 6-4 and run a back checker from their 24-point to their 14-point. It lands alone on your 11-point, two points in front of the five checkers on your midpoint. A lone checker like that is a blot.
5. Hit when it helps. You roll 6-2. Play 13/11* with the 2 (the star means a hit), then carry on 11/5 with the 6 so the hitting checker ends up safe on your new 5-point. Your opponent’s checker goes to the bar and must re-enter in your home board before they can do anything else, and you have left no blots.
6. Keep building. Each new point in your home board makes it harder for a checker on the bar to come in. Aim to add your 4-point and your bar point (the 7-point) next.
7. Bring the back checkers out in time. Your two checkers on the 24-point have the farthest to travel. When a roll lets you move them to safety, or make an anchor together on a high point of your opponent’s board, take it.
8. Race and bear off. Once the checkers have passed each other, it is a pure race. Bring everything into your home board, then bear off: a 5 removes a checker from the 5-point, and a high number removes your highest checker when nothing sits above it. The first player to bear off all 15 wins.

Opening moves

These are standard, widely played choices for each opening roll. Doubles can’t happen on the opening roll because ties are rolled again, but they often come up on the second turn.

Good replies with doubles: 6-6 24/18(2) 13/7(2), 5-5 13/3(2), 4-4 24/20(2) 13/9(2), 3-3 8/5(2) 6/3(2), 2-2 13/11(2) 6/4(2), and 1-1 8/7(2) 6/5(2).

Three game plans

The running game

If your rolls are bigger than your opponent’s, the race is on your side. Count pips (the total distance your checkers still have to travel; both sides start at 167). When you are clearly ahead, run your back checkers home, avoid contact and don’t leave shots. Rolling high doubles early is the classic reason to switch to a running game.

The priming game

A prime is a wall of made points in a row. Four or five in a row in front of your opponent’s back checkers is very hard to get past, and six can’t be passed at all. Build it with checkers from your midpoint and 8-point, and keep spare checkers, called builders, a few points behind the wall so you can extend it. The priming game is slower than a race, and if your opponent gets trapped behind the wall it can end in a gammon.

The blitz

A blitz is an all-out attack on your opponent’s checkers in your home board. You hit, hit again, and make home board points so that their checkers on the bar can’t come back in. It works best when you already own two or three home points and your opponent has several checkers back. If the blitz succeeds, you may close your board completely and win a gammon. If it fails, you can be left with a pile of blots, so commit only when the numbers favor you.

Safe play

Every blot you leave can be hit. The question is how likely and how costly a hit would be:

• Direct shots come from opposing checkers 1 to 6 points behind your blot. Each distance is hit by about 11 to 17 of the 36 possible rolls.
• Indirect shots need both dice (7 points or more away) and are hit far less often, usually 6 rolls or fewer.
• The cost depends on where the blot is. Being hit on your own 5-point loses 20 pips; being hit in your opponent’s home board loses only a few.

Before you finish a move, look at every blot you are leaving and ask which opposing checkers can reach it. If a different play leaves no direct shots and gives up little, choose it. The Medium and Hard computer opponents on this site work the same way: they count the shots for every play they consider.

Strategy tips

1. Make the 5-point early. It blocks your opponent’s back checkers and is the best home point to own.
2. Diversify your builders. Spread checkers in your outer board so that many different rolls make a new point.
3. Split the back checkers carefully. Moving one back checker up a point or two gives you more ways to escape, but don’t split against a strong attacking position.
4. Anchor when you are under pressure. Two checkers together on your opponent’s 5- or 4-point can’t be hit and give you shots later.
5. Hit in your home board when you can. The hit checker loses only a few pips, but it must come back in against the points you have made there, so it costs your opponent time while you keep building.
6. Don’t stack. Six or seven checkers on one point waste material that could be making new points.
7. Count the race before the last contact. If you are ahead, break contact safely. If you are behind, hold a point and wait for a shot.
8. Bear off safely against contact. When your opponent still holds a point in your home board, bring checkers in to make pairs before bearing off, and avoid leaving blots.

Common beginner mistakes

• Leaving the back checkers too long. If you never move them, your opponent builds a prime in front of them.
• Playing every roll as a race. Moving the farthest checker each time ignores points, primes and hits.
• Breaking your best points. Your 6-, 5- and 4-points are worth more than an extra few pips.
• Hitting loose when it doesn’t pay. Hitting while leaving two or three return shots in your home board can backfire.
• Ignoring gammons. When you are losing badly, get at least one checker off. When you are winning big, keep attacking a little longer.

Practice plan

1. Play three games on Easy and focus only on making points, especially the 5-point.
2. Learn the opening table. Before each opening move, check the table above and play the standard choice until it is automatic.
3. Move up to Medium and count direct shots before you finish every turn.
4. Play a match with a friend on one device, to 5 points, and talk through each other’s big decisions.
5. Challenge Hard. It punishes loose blots, so it is a good test of your safe play.

When you are ready, open Backgammon and start a game, and keep the rules guide handy for bearing off and scoring questions.