Backgammon instructions - a beginner's guide

admin · Site Admin Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 862

These Backgammon instructions are not that difficult to get one's mind around. The main goal of the game is to move all of one's pieces from around the board into one area (the home board) and then move them out of the board (bearing off).

Each game starts off with each player rolling the dice. The first player to move is the player who rolled the higher of the two. If equal numbers are rolled, the players roll until they the numbers are differentiated. This first move is made with the total from both dice. The rest of the moves are carried out by an alternating rolling of the two dice each turn.

Backgammon instructions state that the roll of the dice indicates the amount of pips or points (one of these is equal to one move on the board). Pieces may only move in one direction to the home board and may never move backwards. The pieces are always moving in opposite directions; therefore one player's home board is the opponent's starting board and visa versa.

When moving the pieces there are some things to remember when carefully following backgammon instructions. If a player rolls a 2 and a 4, one piece may be moved 6 points, two separate pieces may be moved 3 points each, one piece may be moved 4 points and another piece 2 points. If there are more than one piece on a point belonging to the opponent the player may not occupy that point, essentially the player is blocked. Only points on the board that have no pieces belonging to the opponent may be occupied. If a player occupies a point where there is one piece belonging to the opponent, the opponent's piece gets put onto the bar (the divider between the two boards) and has to be reentered into the game via their inner board. This move is called hitting a blot (piece).

The first player to bear off all their pieces is the winner. If the opponent has not had a chance to bear off any pieces then it is a double victory called gammon and is the equivalent of a double win. A triple win or backgammon is when a player bears off all his peaces and not only hasn’t the opponent started to bear off pieces but still has pieces on the winner's home board.

By following these simple Backgammon instructions, you are on your way to success.