Learn Backgammon, Properly
One of the oldest games still played on this planet, explained from the first roll to the last checker. The rules as they actually work, the strategy that wins close races, and honest answers to the questions every player asks.
Why We Wrote This Guide
Backgammon is around 5,000 years old. Boards have been dug out of ancient cities in Mesopotamia and Persia, and the game we play today is recognizably the same race it has always been. Chess asks you to out-think a silent opponent; backgammon adds dice, and with them a question chess never asks: how much risk is this position worth?
That mix is why we love it. Every roll changes the landscape. A safe position becomes a target, a hopeless race becomes a lucky shot, and a single exposed checker can swing an entire game. Beginners often believe backgammon is mostly luck. It is not. Over a handful of games the dice even out, and the player who counts shots, builds structure, and picks the right game plan wins far more often. Luck decides rolls; skill decides games.
When we built our backgammon AI, we had to teach it exactly that: how to weigh risk against reward on every single roll, how to evaluate full dice sequences rather than single moves, and when to race, block, hit, or hold back. Writing this guide is the same exercise pointed at humans. It is organized the way we would teach a friend: rules first, with diagrams drawn in the same style as our board, then strategy once the moves feel natural, and a FAQ for everything that comes up along the way.
What Is In This Guide
Backgammon Rules
The board and where everything starts, how dice and movement really work, hitting and the bar, bearing off, and the three ways to win. Every rule comes with a board diagram.
Read the rules →Backgammon Strategy
A glossary of backgammon terms, then the real craft: counting the race, managing blots, building primes and anchors, and choosing the right game plan for your dice.
Read the strategy →Backgammon FAQ
What happens on doubles? How do I escape the bar? What is a gammon worth? The questions we hear most, answered fully, plus step-by-step setup guides with screenshots.
Read the FAQ →Then Put It Into Practice
Backgammon is learned through the hands, not the eyes. A rule about bar entry makes complete sense the third time you are stuck on the bar staring at a blocked home board. Our backgammon game runs free in your browser, no download and no account needed for casual play.
Play a friend on the same screen, challenge someone far away with a simple game code, or face our AI at five difficulty levels. The board highlights every legal destination when you pick up a checker, handles bar entry and bearing off exactly by the rules, and lets you click back through the move history to review how a game unfolded. The AI weighs full dice sequences and learns from finished games, so it punishes loose play more reliably as you climb the levels.