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  • Lesson 1 of 12
  • The rules
  • 4 min

The Backgammon Board: Points, Quarters and Direction

Before your first roll, learn your way round the board: where your checkers start, which way they travel and where they are going.

Step 1 of 5

  1. 24 points in four quarters

    The board has 24 long triangles called points, six in each quarter. The strip down the middle is the bar. You play Black, and every point is numbered from your side: your 24-point is in the top right corner and your 1-point in the bottom right.

    Your checkers travel the arrows: from the top right along the top to your 13-point, down to your 12-point, then along the bottom to your 1-point. The bottom right quarter, points 1 to 6, is your home board, and the bottom left, 7 to 12, your outer board. The top half is White's: its outer board on your 13- to 18-points, its home board on your 19- to 24-points.

  2. Where the checkers start

    Each side has 15 checkers. Yours start on the four stars: this is the starting position. Two stand on your 24-point, deep in White's home board, five on your 13-point, three on your 8-point and five on your 6-point.

    White's checkers start the same way from its own side: two on your 1-point, five on your 12-point, three on your 17-point and five on your 19-point.

  3. Move a checker

    A die moves one checker that many points forward, toward your home board. Say you have a 4 to play. The checkers that can move have a gold ring. Click or tap one to pick it up, then put it down on one of the gold dots that appear.

    Your move

    Move a checker from your 13-point to the star, four points on.

  4. Which way does White move?

    White plays the other side. Its two back checkers start on your 1-point, in your home board, and its other checkers on your 12-, 17- and 19-points.

    Which way do White's checkers move?

    Question

  5. Where are your checkers going?

    The aim of the game is to bring all 15 of your checkers into one quarter of the board and then take them off it, which is called bearing off. The first side to bear off all 15 wins.

    Which quarter are your checkers heading for?

    Question

What you learned

  • The board has 24 points in four quarters. Your home board is points 1 to 6, in the bottom right.
  • Your checkers move from your 24-point toward your 1-point, and White's move the other way.
  • Each side starts with 15 checkers: two on its 24-point, five on its 13, three on its 8 and five on its 6.
  • Bring all 15 home, then bear them off. The first side to bear off all 15 wins.

In this course

Unit 1The rules

  1. The Backgammon Board: Points, Quarters and Direction
  2. How to Move Checkers in Backgammon With Two Dice
  3. Rolling Doubles in Backgammon: Four Moves, Not Two
  4. Hitting a Blot in Backgammon: Blots and the Bar
  5. How to Enter From the Bar in Backgammon
  6. How to Bear Off in Backgammon
  7. Winning at Backgammon: Gammons and Backgammons

Unit 2First strategy

  1. The Best Opening Moves in Backgammon
  2. Making Points and Primes in Backgammon
  3. Anchors in Backgammon: Where to Keep Your Back Checkers
  4. Safe Play in Backgammon: Blots, Shots and Risk
  5. How to Count Pips in Backgammon

Lessons for every game

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