To anyone who has never played Backgammon, it can be a daunting game and in order to fully understand it, you need to know what equipment is used and what different areas of the board. It is also quite important that you are fully aware of all the terminology used too.

So what is backgammon?

Backgammon is a board game, which is played for real money by two players. Each player has 15 checkers, and has to move them around the board. The aim of the game is to get all of your checkers off the board. Once you manage this, you win, however it isn’t that simple in practice. The main part of the game involves blocking your opponent’s checkers, or hitting them, to prevent them from moving, and also prevent them from winning in the process.

Backgammon is played on a board which contains twenty four elongated triangles, known as points. The board itself is divided into quadrants and each quadrant has six points within it. Each point alternates in colour, however usually they are black and white or brown and cream.

Starting a game

In order to start a game of Backgammon, the players must roll the dice, whichever player rolls the highest goes first. However, the higher roll doesn’t just decide who goes first, the number on the dices on that roll are also that players first move too.
Playing the numbers rolled on the dice
In Backgammon, you are not allowed to pass on your turn to play; you must play regardless of what both the numbers are. This is always the case, even if it results in a bad move or you. Also, if for some reason it isn’t possible for you to play both of the numbers on the dice; you must always play with the larger number of the two.

Moving your checkers

There are set rules and restrictions as to how you can and can’t move your checkers during a game. For instance, you can’t move any checker on to any position which already contains two or more of your opponent’s checkers. Also, a crucial thing to keep in mind, is that you cannot play the combined total of the dice as one move. If for example, you have a 5 and a 3, they cannot be played as 8 in one single move. The 5 has to be a single move, and so too does the three.

Getting to the home board

The main goal is to get your checkers onto the home board, then you must also bear off as well. Basically, what this means is, you need to remove your checkers off the backgammon board completely by rolling the dice, and matching that number to the point where the checker is on the board at that time.

This has less to do with strategy, and more to do with luck at this stage. However, getting to the home board, and blocking your opposition does require skill. The home board is basically the opposite side to which you started on.