Backgammon rules for beginners

The board

The board has 24 narrow triangles called points, in four quarters of six. The bar in the middle separates the two halves. Each player's home board is the last quarter their checkers reach.

At the start, each player has two checkers on the opponent's far point (the 24-point), five on their own 13-point, three on the 8-point and five on the 6-point. The two players move in opposite directions.

Who starts

Each player rolls one die. On JoinPal the player with the lower number starts; ties are rolled again. Then the players take turns rolling both dice.

Moving

Each die is a separate move: with a 5 and a 3 you can move one checker 5 points and another 3, or one checker 8 points if the stop in between is open. A double, such as two 4s, gives four moves of that number.

You may land on an empty point, a point with your own checkers, or a point with a single opposing checker. A point with two or more opposing checkers is blocked.

You must use both dice if you can. If only one can be used, you must use the larger one when possible. If no move is possible, your turn passes.

Hitting and the bar

A single checker alone on a point is called a blot. Landing on it hits it: the checker goes to the bar. A player with a checker on the bar must bring it back into the opponent's home board before moving any other checker. If the entry points are blocked, the turn passes.

Bearing off

When all 15 of your checkers are in your home board, you may start bearing them off. A die removes a checker from the point with that number. With a higher number than any of your points, you may bear off from the highest occupied point. The first player to bear off all 15 checkers wins.

Time and turns on JoinPal

Each turn has a limit of 30 seconds or 1 minute, chosen when the game is created. When time runs out, legal moves are played for you automatically. After a third timeout the player loses the game. JoinPal does not use the doubling cube.