Backgammon rules
Backgammon (shesh besh in Hebrew) is a two-player game, with 15 checkers per side and two dice. The goal: bring all your checkers home and bear them all off before your opponent. Here are the complete rules, and at the end, answers to the arguments that come up at every table.
The board and the starting position
- The board has 24 points, in four quarters of 6. Each player moves in one direction, and the last quarter along the way is that player's home board.
- Points are counted from the side of whoever is playing: 1 is the last point in your home, and 24 is the farthest.
- At the start, each player has: 2 checkers on 24, 5 on 13, 3 on 8 and 5 on 6.
Who goes first
Each player rolls one die, and whoever gets the higher number goes first. Same number? Roll again. From here there are two customs:
- Play the opening dice: the winner plays both numbers rolled. This is the international rule.
- The winner rolls again: very common in cafés here in Israel. The new roll can also be doubles.
Here, you choose the custom before the game.
In a match (to 3, to 5…): the opening roll is only in the first game. After that, whoever won the previous game opens the next one and rolls first, the way we play here. In tournaments abroad every game starts with an opening roll, and here you can choose that too.
How to move
- Each die is a separate move. You can move one checker by both numbers (if the point halfway is also open), or two different checkers.
- You may land on an empty point, on your own point, or on a point with a single opposing checker.
- A point with two or more opposing checkers is closed: you can't land on it.
- Doubles (two matching dice) are played four times: double 6 = four moves of 6.
You must play
- You must use both dice if possible, even when it's inconvenient.
- If only one of the dice can be played, you must play it. If either can be played alone but not both, you must play the higher one.
- No legal move at all? The turn passes.
Hitting and the bar
- Landed on a single opposing checker? You hit it. It goes to thebar, the strip in the middle of the board.
- If you have a checker on the bar, you must enter it first, into the opponent's home board, according to the number on the die. Until all checkers on the bar have entered, you can't move any other checker.
- If all the points matching the dice are closed, you don't enter and the turn passes. When all six points in the opponent's home are closed, the home is completely closed, and there's nowhere to enter.
Bearing off
- You start bearing off only when all 15 of your checkers are home.
- You bear off a checker from the point whose number came up on the die. You may also move within your home instead of bearing off.
- No checker on the die's point? If there are checkers on higher points, you must move one of them. If not, you bear off the checker from the highest point that has one.
- Got hit in the middle of bearing off? The checker has to come back home before you continue bearing off.
Winning, gammon and backgammon
| How it ends | When | points |
|---|---|---|
| Regular win | The loser has already borne off at least one checker | 1 |
| Gammon | The loser hasn't borne off any checkers | 2 |
| Backgammon | The loser hasn't borne off any checkers, and still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home | 3 |
At some tables, backgammons aren't counted. The full explanation: Gammon and backgammon.
Doubling cube
- Before you roll, you may offer your opponent to double the value of the game.
- Your opponent decides: Takes, and play continues at double the value, and the cube passes to them (only they can double next time); or Passes, and immediately loses the current value.
- In a match to a set number of points there's also the Crawford rule: in the first game after one player gets to one point short of winning, doubling isn't allowed.
- In cafés here in Israel, many people play without a doubling cube at all. Here you can choose "No cube".
Common arguments
- "I rolled 6-1, and only one of them is possible." If either die can be played alone but not both, you play the 6. If only the 1 is possible, you play the 1.
- "Can I skip a die because it doesn't suit me?" No. If there's a legal move, you must play it.
- "Can I move when I have a checker on the bar?" No. First you enter all the checkers from the bar.
- "I bore off one checker, is it still a gammon?" No. One checker off is enough to escape a gammon.
- "Can I bear off with a higher number?" Only when there are no checkers on points higher than the number rolled.
Here the game enforces all the rules by itself: you can't make an illegal move, and a forced move can be played automatically.