Objective: move all fifteen checkers into your home board and bear them off before your opponent.
- Direction: White moves from point 24 toward point 1. Black moves from point 1 toward point 24.
- Open points: You may move to an empty point, a point occupied by your own checkers, or a point with exactly one opposing checker.
- Blocked points: A point with two or more opposing checkers is blocked and cannot be landed on.
- Hitting: Landing on a single opposing checker sends it to the bar.
- The bar: Checkers on the bar must enter through the opponent home board before any other checker can move. If all entry points shown by the dice are blocked, your turn passes.
- Doubles: A double gives four moves of that die number. Use as many as are legally available.
- Using dice: If both dice can be played, both must be played. If only one can be played, you must play it. If either die could be played but not both, the higher die must be used.
- Bearing off: You may bear off only when all your checkers are in your home board. Exact rolls bear off from the matching point; higher rolls may bear off from the farthest occupied point when no checker is farther away.
- Normal win: the loser has borne off at least one checker.
- Gammon: the loser has borne off no checkers.
- Backgammon: the loser has borne off no checkers and still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board.
Full rules with board diagrams → · Strategy guide →
