Play Backgammon Online

Backgammon is a two-player classic board game in which the players' fate depends on their strategic reasoning and luck. The dice may determine the course of the game, but it’s the players' ability to read the board and adapt to any outcome of the dice that can make or break the game and crown the winner.

To ensure the best possible game experience for any fan of this board game, this classic Backgammon Online has four game modes available:

• Online: play whenever and wherever you want against an AI machine.
• 2-player: challenge a friend and play against each other on the same device.
• Multiplayer: play against a random real player from anywhere in the world.
• Play with Friends: share a unique code with a friend and play against each other online.

Choose a game mode and brace yourself for the challenge ahead! Will your strategic mind and reasoning skills be enough to beat any foe in this online board game?

Rules of Backgammon

The board

Backgammon is played on a board divided into four quadrants: the two outer boards and the two home boards. These follow a reverse arrangement where the home and outer boards must be opposite to each other. In other words, for one player their home board will be on their right while for the other it will be on their left.

Each quadrant contains six narrow triangles, also known as points. These are numbered from 1 to 24, with number 1 being the one closest to the board limit in one’s home board and number 24 being on the opposite side, on the opponent’s home board. In other words, the point 1 to one player will be the point 24 for the other.

The central ridge of the board, also called the bar, separates the outer and home boards. Backgammon is played using two dice.

The setup and the goal

Each player has 15 checkers that start already on the board in the following arrangement: two on point 24, five on point 13, three on point 8, and five on point 6. Before the game begins, both players throw a single die. The player with the highest score starts.

The goal is to move the checkers onto one’s home board to bear them off. They can only move in descending order of points since one’s home board is where the lowest value points are. This means that the players cannot move back on the board. 

How to play Backgammon online

The goal of Backgammon is to bear off one’s checkers by moving them onto one’s home board. To move the checkers, the players must throw two dice to determine how many points they can move. Each die works independently. When the value is the same for both, they double their number, meaning that instead of two moves, the players can make four. You can choose to move two checkers (one per die) or move the same checker twice.

You can only move the checkers onto a point if:

• The point is empty.
• The point already has your checkers on it.
• The point contains a single checker from the opponent.

In the third case, placing your checker there will dislodge the opponent’s and throw it off the board. The opponent’s checker is then placed on the bar separating the home from the outer boards.

On the opponent's turn, they must start by bringing back their checker to the game on points 24 to 19 (your home board). However, they can only do it if one of the three previously mentioned requirements is fulfilled. Otherwise, they lose their turn.

How to use the doubling die

By default, all players bet one point when playing a Backgammon game. However, during the game, a player can request to double the stakes. The opponent can refuse the doubling, in which case they concede the game and pay the one point at stake, or they can accept it and keep playing. The player accepting the doubling becomes the owner of the doubling die and is the only one who can request a redoubling.

There is no limit to the number of redoubles in a game. If a player refuses a redouble, they must pay the total points that were at stake at that moment.

Bearing off checkers

Once the players have all their 15 checkers on their home board, they can start bearing them off on exact rolls. If the roll is lower than the number of points the checkers must cover, the players can bring them closer to point 1. If the value is higher than the distance the checker closest to the bar must cover, they can consume the roll by bearing off the checkers further away from the board limit.

Once point 1 is the only one left with checkers (because the player already bore off some or they moved them all to that point), any roll is valid to remove them from the board.

The first player to bear off all of their checkers wins the game.