Backgammon Board Set-Up

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The first step to understanding how to play backgammon is to understand backgammon board set-up.

A backgammon board folds open to reveal a playing field of four quadrants - your home board and out board and your opponents home board and out board. You exit the board when all your checkers are returned to your home board, and an opposing checker that has been sent back to the bar must enter the game through your home board, as it is the farthest from his own. Each quadrant contains six triangular points, for a total of twenty-four points, alternating in color around the board. These points are the places by which you move your checkers around the board throughout the game.

Backgammon board set-up is quite simple as it only includes setting up each player's fifteen checkers on the board. In traditional backgammon, the game begins with the checkers on specific points. These are determined by numbering each point. Beginning in the outer corner of your home board, number the points from one to twenty-four. Your twenty-four point is the same as your opponent’s one point. Each player places two checkers on their twenty-four point, five checkers on their thirteen, three on their eight and five checkers on their six point.

Since backgammon is such an old game there are variations on backgammon board set-up. To make the game more difficult, to make the game longer or faster, checkers can be placed in a different arrangement. However, traditional backgammon board set-up, which has been described here, is most common.