Backgammon rules

Learn with Halley

Rules of Backgammon

Roll two dice and move your checkers toward home, hitting any opposing checker you catch alone. Move all fifteen checkers into your home board, then bear them off before your opponent does.

The objective: Bear off all fifteen checkers first.

Halley holds up an ivory checker.

Fifteen checkers, one long road home

Each player has fifteen checkers spread over four points. Your goal is to bring all of them around the board into your home board, the last six points of your route, and then take them off.

The two players travel in opposite directions, so your checkers will meet theirs along the way. Dark always starts the game on LarkSpark.

The starting position. The arrow shows Dark’s route, ending at its home in the bottom right. Light travels the opposite way.

Roll two dice, make two moves

On your turn you roll two dice, and each die is its own move. You can move two different checkers, or the same checker twice.

A checker moves forward along your route by exactly the number on the die.

Dark rolled 3 and 1 and moves one checker for each die.

Doubles count twice

If both dice show the same number, you’ve rolled doubles. You play that number four times instead of two.

You can split those four moves however you like, as long as each one is legal.

With double 4s, Dark can make this pair of moves twice over.

Two checkers hold a point

You can land on any point that’s empty, that holds your own checkers, or that holds a single opposing checker.

You can’t land on a point with two or more opposing checkers. That point is blocked.

The 1 is blocked by Light’s stack, but the 2 lands on an empty point.

Hit a lone checker

A single checker alone on a point is called a blot. If you land on an opposing blot, you hit it and send it to the bar in the middle of the board.

That checker now has to start its whole journey over, so leaving blots within reach of your opponent is a real risk.

“Dice are luck. Leaving a blot right where I can reach it? That part’s on you.”

Halley
Light left one checker alone. Dark’s 3 lands on it and sends it to the bar.

Come back in from the bar first

If you have a checker on the bar, you have to bring it back in before you can move anything else. It enters on your opponent’s home board, on the point matching one of your dice.

If both of those points are blocked, you can’t enter and your turn ends.

The 5 enters from the bar. Until it does, Dark can’t move any other checker.

Use all the dice you can

You have to play both dice if there’s any legal way to do it, even if you’d rather not.

  • If only one of the dice can be played, you play that one.
  • If you can play either one but not both, you have to play the higher number.
  • If nothing is legal, your turn ends. LarkSpark moves on for you.

Bring them all home, then take them off

Once all fifteen of your checkers are in your home board, you can start bearing them off. A die takes a checker off the point with that number.

A roll higher than your farthest checker can bear off that farthest checker. If a checker gets hit while you’re bearing off, you have to bring it all the way home before you continue.

The 2 bears off exactly. The 6 is more than Dark needs, so it takes the farthest checker.

First to clear the board wins

The game ends the moment a player bears off their fifteenth checker.

LarkSpark plays each room as a single game, with no doubling cube and no extra points for a gammon.

“A race is never over until that last checker’s gone. Ask me how I know.”

Halley
Dark’s last checker comes off, and Dark wins the game.

Playing on LarkSpark

Roll on your turn, then choose a checker and the point you want it to go to. Dice are always rolled by the server, so nobody can influence them.

You can play one of eight bots, send a friend a link, or get matched with another player online. In a timed game, running out of time loses the game.

  • Altair Level 1
  • Halley Level 2
  • Nova Level 3
  • Zhao Level 4
  • Juno Level 5
  • Lyra Level 6
  • Rigel Level 7
  • Orion Level 8
Your opponents, from friendliest to toughest.

Words to know

Look up blots, the bar, bearing off and other terms in the Backgammon Glossary.

Your turn in four checks

  1. Enter firstA checker on the bar has to come in before you move anything else.
  2. Play both diceUse both numbers if you can, and play doubles four times.
  3. Cover your blotsA checker alone on a point can be hit and sent to the bar.
  4. Bring them homeGet all fifteen checkers into your home board before you bear off.