BACKGAMMON RULES
How to play backgammon: board setup, dice and moves, hitting and entering, bearing off, gammons and match scoring — a complete beginner guide.
The goal
Each player has 15 checkers. You move them towards your home board according to the dice; once all are home you bear them off, and whoever bears off all 15 first wins. This guide describes the classic rules as implemented in YOZGAMES Backgammon.
Board and setup
The board has 24 points, six per quadrant. In the classic setup each player starts with 2 checkers on the 24-point, 5 on the 13-point, 3 on the 8-point and 5 on the 6-point. The two players move in opposite directions; your home board is your final quadrant.
Dice and moves
- You roll two dice; each die is a separate move. With 5-3 you may move one checker 5 and another 3, or one checker 8 in two steps (if the intermediate point is open).
- Doubles (e.g. 4-4) give four moves: you play the number four times.
- A checker may only land on an open point: empty, occupied by your own checkers, or holding exactly one enemy checker.
- If you can play, you must; when only one die can be played, play the higher one.
Hitting and entering
A lone checker is a blot: if your opponent lands on it, it goes to the bar. A player with a checker on the bar must first enter it in the opponent's home board; if no entry is possible, the turn is lost. A point with two or more checkers is blocked — your opponent cannot land there, and consecutive blocked points build a prime that traps checkers behind it.
Bearing off
Once all 15 of your checkers are in your home board, you bear off: a die removes a checker from the matching point. If the die is higher than your rearmost checker, you may bear that checker off. If you get hit while bearing off, the checker must re-enter and travel home again.
Gammons and scoring
If you bear off all your checkers before your opponent bears off any, you win a gammon worth 2 points; a normal win is 1 point. A YOZGAMES match is played to 3 points. (There is no doubling cube in this version; the short 3-point match replaces it.)
Beginner strategy
- Avoid blots. If you must leave one, leave it where it is hardest to hit (distances over 6 are safest).
- Build points. Consecutive blocked points in your home board make it hard for a hit checker to re-enter.
- Hit early. An early hit sends your opponent all the way back — but not at the cost of wrecking your own structure.
- Don't forget the back checkers. Try to run the two checkers on the 24-point early; left too long, they get trapped.
- When stuck, 💡 Hint shows a suggested move, and ↶ Undo lets you experiment before ending your turn.
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