Backgammon is 2-player game of skill,played on a unique board which is broken down into four quadrants, witheach player having his Home and Outer quadrants, or Boards. Eachquadrant consists of 6 black and white triangular points, making atotal of 24 points across the entire playing board. The points arenumbered 1-24 for each player, starting at the player's Home board (sothat Point 1 for player A will be point 24 for player B andvice-versa). The board is also split vertically down the center by apartition, known as the Bar, which separates the home and outer boards.

Each player receives 15 checkers, colored either white or black, which are initially laid out across the board in the set starting position. In addition, players also have 2 regular playing dice and a special Doubling Cube, which is used to keep track of the stakes of the game. Object of the Game The object of the game is for players to move their checkers around the board and into their respective Home boards and then to remove, or Bear, the pieces off the board. The first player to bear all 15 of his checkers off the board wins the game. How the Game is Played Who starts?To decide who will start the game, each player rolls a single die andthe player with the highest number begins, using both his number andthat of his opponent in his opening move. This is called the Opening roll.

Advancing checkers The number of points, or pips,that a player may advance his checkers is decided by the roll of thedice, with each die representing a separate move. For example, if youroll 4 and 2, you can either move one checker a total of 6 pips,provided that the intermediate point is open, or you may move one checker 4 pips and another checker 2 pips.

Rolling doublesIf a player rolls doubles, the numbers are played twice. For example,if both dice read 5, you have four moves of 5, which can be played inany legal combination you wish: four checkers moved 5 pips each, onechecker moved 20 pips (4 x 5 pips), or any such combination.

Direction of playA player's checkers may be moved in only one direction around theboard, in an imaginary U-shaped trail starting at Point 24 of theopponent's home board and ending at Point 1 of his own home board.Backwards moves are never permitted.
A checker may only be advanced to an Open Point:that is, any point that is free of checkers or is occupied by theplayers own checkers, or has no more than one of the opponents'checkers placed on it. There is no limit to the amount of checkers youmay place on a single point that is in your possession. A Checker maynot be advanced to a point that is occupied by two or more of youropponents' checkers.

Can I pass on a turn?
As long as a legal move may be made, a player may not pass on his turn.If it is not possible to play both rolled numbers, a you must use thehigher of the two, provided that this constitutes a legal move,otherwise you may use the lower number. A player forfeits his turn onlyif neither number can be played.

Hitting and Entering A single/lone checker on a point is known as a blot. If a player's checker lands on an opponents blot,either as an intermediate move or as a final landing point, the blot isremoved from the board and placed on the bar. This is known as a hit. If a player's checkers have been hit,his first priority is to enter them back onto his opponents Home board.Until this has been done, he cannot advance any other checkers aroundthe board.

To return a checker to the board, you must roll a number corresponding to an open point on his opponents open point.Any number remaining having returned a blot to the board must be usedin the normal fashion to advance a checker. If neither of your rollednumbers corresponds to open points, you must then forfeit and wait foryour next turn to try again. Bearing Off Once all 15 checkers have been advanced to the home board, you canbegin bearing them off. The dice are rolled as normal, and checkers arethen removed in correspondence to the numbers rolled. For example, youroll 4 and 1, you may then remove a checker from points 4 and 1.

If there are no checkers on the point indicated by the dice, the playermust move checkers from the next highest point to a lower number. Forexample, if you roll 4 and 5, but do not have checkers on these points,you must advance any checkers that you have on point 6 down by thenumber of points indicated by the dice.

If the only points occupied by checkers are lower than the numbersrolled, the player may bear off checkers from the next highest pointdown. For example, if you roll 4 and 6, but you only have checkers onpoints 1, 2 and 3, then you can remove two checkers, beginning withthose on point 3.

If a player's checker is hit while bearing off, it must first beentered back onto his opponent's home board and then advanced backaround to his home board before he can continue to bear off. Doubling Cube The Doubling Cube is used to increase and keep track of the stakes ofthe game. It is marked with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64. Aplayer can offer to double the stakes of a game at any stage after theopening play, and before he rolls the dice for his turn. His opponentmust decide to accept or decline the offer to double the stakes. If hedecides not to double the stakes, he loses/forfeits the game at itspresent stake. If he accepts, the stakes are doubled and the cube isturned to display the new stake.

Once a player accepts the double, he is given possession of the cubeand then only he can re-double the stakes. If the stakes arere-doubled, control of the cube will pass back to the other player andso on. Doubling may continue up to 64 times the original stake only.The Doubling Cube option may be turned on/off in the "Match Terms"pop-up window before play begins.

Beavers
If a player accepts an offer to double or re-double the stakes, andthen immediately offers to double the stakes himself, he is given theadvantage of keeping control of the Doubling Cube. This is called aBeaver. As before, a player who declines a re-double immediatelyforfeits the game. The Beaver option may be turned on/off in the "MatchTerms" pop-up window before play begins. Gammons & Backgammons If at the end of the game the losing player has removed one or more ofhis checkers from the board, he loses whatever stake is shown on theDoubling Cube. If all his checkers are in his home board, but he hasnot begun to remove them, he loses twice the stakes shown on theDoubling Cube: this is known as a Gammon.If at the end of the game, the loser has one or more checkers in hisopponent's home board or on the bar, he loses three times the stakeindicated by the Doubling Cube: this is known as a Backgammon. Crawford Rule If a player comes within one point of winning a series, then the nextgame will be played without the option of using the Doubling Cube, ifyou decide to play using the Crawford Rule. Jacoby Rule If neither player has accepted a Double during a game, then Gammons andBackgammons count as 1 point only, if you decide to play using theJacoby Rule.