Download
Learn the rules to the board game Backgammon quickly and concisely – This video has no distractions, just the rules.
Don’t own the game? Buy it here:
amazon.com –
amazon.ca –
amazon.co.uk –
amazon.es –
amazon.de –
amazon.fr –
amazon.it –
amazon.nl –
amazon.pl –
amazon.com.mx –
(As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases)
RULES:
The object of the game is to move all your checkers around the board and into your home board, then move them off the board before your opponent does. The first player to accumulate the predetermined point total across several games, wins. Lay out the board horizontally between two players. The board consists of twenty-four triangles, called “points” which are numbered like so. Setup the checkers like so. The board is divided into these four quadrants with the home bases across from each other. The raised divider in the middle is called the “Bar”. Give each player a die cup and two dice. Place the doubling cube on the side of the board.
Before starting the first game, both players agree to a point total goal that they will be playing to. The point total must always be an odd number. Typically it is 5, 7, or 9.
Both players roll one die to determine who goes first; the higher roll wins, then the sum of both dice dictates the first move. If tied, reroll. Players then alternate turns, rolling their two dice at the beginning of each turn.
When rolling dice, you must always roll both dice together in your cup into your right-hand section of the board. If any dice go outside your board, land on a checker, or don’t land flat; then the role is invalid, and you must re-roll both dice. Your turn is completed when you pick up your dice.
The 2 dice rolled constitute 2 separate movements, with each die indicating how many points you can move a checker. Checkers always move around the board in the direction from your opponent’s home base to their outer board, to your outer board, to your home base, then off the board. A checker may only be moved to an open point. An open point is any empty point, a point where you already have checkers, or a point that is occupied by exactly one opponent checker. You may move the same checker more than once a turn.
To use the result of each die to move the same checker twice, you must be able to fully move that checker onto each legal spot along the path as it moves the total distance. You are not allowed to add together the sum of the dice and move the checker in one giant move. A single die number may not be split across multiple checkers. You must use the entire die’s number for one checker’s move.
If you roll doubles, then you play the numbers shown on the dice twice, for a total of four moves. You may move any combination of checkers you feel appropriate to complete this requirement. You must use both numbers of a role if it is legally possible and as many numbers of a double as possible. If only one number can be used, you must play that number. If multiple numbers can be used, but not both, then you must play the larger number. When no number can be used, then you lose your turn without moving a checker.
A point occupied by a single checker is called a “blot”. If an opposing checker lands on a blot, that blot is “hit” and removed and placed on the “bar”. Anytime you have one or more checkers on the bar, you must first enter those checkers into your opponent’s home board before you may move another piece. A checker is entered by moving onto an open point corresponding to one of the numbers of the rolled dice. If neither of the points are open, then you lose your turn. If you can enter some, but not all of your checkers, you must first enter as many as you can, and then forfeit the remainder of your turn.
Once all your checkers on the bar have been entered, only then can any unused numbers on the dice be used to move a checker that was just entered or a different checker. Once you have moved all 15 of your checkers into your home board, you may begin “bearing them off”. You “bear off” a checker by rolling a number that corresponds to the point on which the checker resides and then removing that Checker from the board. If you have no checker on the rolled point, then you must make a legal move by moving a checker from a higher numbered point. If there are no checkers on higher numbered points, you are required to bear off a checker from the highest point available.
If one of your checkers is hit during the bear off process, you must bring that checker back to your home board before continuing to bear off. The first player to bear off all 15 checkers wins the game…
