The first thing you must do if you’re new to online backgammon is get familiar with the backgammon rules. Though the game is not very complicated to play, it’s essential to know the backgammon rules before you start.  In essence the objective when playing backgammon is to get all your checkers (round pieces) off the board before your opponent does. Of course there are advanced backgammon strategies for hindering your opponent and playing offensively but for now let’s look at the basic backgammon rules before going any further.

The game consists of a backgammon board, backgammon pieces (called checkers) two pairs of dice and a cube. Two players have 15 checkers each and play against each other –the objective being to get your own checkers into your home board and then off the board entirely before your opponent does.  Each player has 15 checkers in their own color (such as white and black) that are set up on the backgammon board according to a specific layout (see the board setup sections for specific details on how to set up the backgammon board).

Once game play begins, each player rolls their set of backgammon dice and can move checkers according to the numbers on the dice. They can either use each number on each die to move two separate pieces any number of points or they can combine the numbers of both dice to moth one single checker further down the board. Rolling a double (such as 6+6) allows the player to move twice as many moves as the numbers on the dice. That means rolling 6+6 allows the player to either move 4 checkers 6 places or 1 checker 24 places or any other combination the player chooses.

If a player leaves 1 checker on a point the other player can land on it (with the correct dice roll) and hit it off the board. Then it sits on the bar until the correct roll of the dice allows the player to get the checker back on the board. Two or more checkers on a point is secure and the opponent can’t land on the point or hit the other player off. The player with a checker that has been hit can’t move any other pieces until that checker is back on the board. If the opponent has control of several points then it may be hard for the other player to get his checker back in the backgammon game unless he rolls the right dice combination. If he doesn’t he misses a turn and must try again.

The final and most important of the backgammon rules has to do with bearing in (getting all your checkers into your home board) and bearing off (getting them off the board altogether).  The backgammon player cannot begin removing checkers from the board (bearing off) until all his checkers are safely in his home board area. If even one checker is outside the home board the player can’t bear off any backgammon checkers.