Backgammon
Roll, race, and bear off your checkers before the computer.
How to play Backgammon
Roll the two dice and move your light checkers around the board toward your home, using each die as a separate move (doubles give four moves). Land alone on a point and you leave a "blot" the computer can hit, sending it to the bar to re-enter. Once all your checkers are home, bear them off. First to remove all fifteen wins.
How to win at Backgammon
Backgammon is a race wrapped in a fight. You are trying to move all fifteen of your checkers around the board into your home and bear them off before the computer does, but the dice and the hitting rules turn a simple race into a game of position and risk. Every roll gives you two moves, or four on doubles, and how you split those pips between your checkers is where the whole game is won or lost. The core tension is between running your checkers home safely and slowing the opponent down by hitting and blocking.
A lone checker on a point is called a blot, and if the computer lands on it, your checker is sent to the bar and has to re-enter all the way from the start. Avoiding blots, or placing them only when the reward is worth the risk, is the heartbeat of good play, and learning to weigh that risk is what lifts you above rolling and hoping.
The opening rolls worth memorising
Backgammon opening theory is small enough to actually learn, and three plays carry most of it. Roll 3-1 and there is no decision to make: build your 5-point by moving one checker from the 8-point and one from the 6-point. Paul Magriel's 1976 book Backgammon, still the standard text, called the 5-point the Golden Point, and making it on the very first roll is the best start the dice can hand you. Roll 6-1 and you make the bar point the same way, extending your wall a step earlier. Roll 6-5 and you play the lover's leap: run one back checker from the 24-point all the way to the safety of your midpoint. The pattern behind all three is the same, and it should guide every roll you have not memorised: a good opening play either makes a point, escapes the back checkers, or prepares one of those. A play that does none of the three is usually a donation.
Strategy tips
- Make points, especially in your home board; a point held by two checkers is safe and blocks the opponent's escape.
- Keep your checkers in pairs where you can, so you leave as few blots as possible for the computer to hit.
- Fight for your bar point and the strong points near it: a wall of made points is very hard to pass.
- When you are behind, grab an anchor: a made point in the computer's home board gives your back checkers a safe harbour and keeps hitting chances alive.
- Use doubles boldly: four moves at once is a big tempo swing you can spend making several points in a single turn.
Count pips before you choose a plan
Both sides start 167 pips from bringing every checker home and off, and the running total each side still needs is called the pip count. It is the single number that should pick your strategy, so estimate it every few turns; roughly is fine. Clearly ahead? Break contact, run, and stop leaving blots, because every hit costs you a race you were winning. Clearly behind? Do the opposite: keep checkers back on an anchor and wait for the shot that swings the game. The worst backgammon is played by people racing when behind and fighting when ahead. The count keeps ruling during the bear-off, too: if the computer still holds a point in your home board, clear your own points evenly from the highest down, so that no awkward roll forces you to leave a lone checker sitting in front of the waiting hitters.
An ancient race game
Backgammon is one of the oldest games still played, with ancestors stretching back thousands of years through the ancient Near East. The Roman version, tabula, was close enough to the modern game that a notoriously unlucky position rolled by the emperor Zeno around the year 480 survives in the histories and can still be set up on a board today. The English name shows up in print in the 1600s, and the last big addition came in the 1920s, when American club players invented the doubling cube and bolted a contest of nerve onto the contest of checkers; the version here settles everything with the checkers alone. The game's enduring appeal is the way it marries luck and skill: the dice guarantee that anyone can win a single game, yet over many games the better positional player comes out ahead. The rules that feel fiddly at first (bearing off only once every checker is home, re-entering from the bar, hitting lone blots) are exactly the levers a strong player pulls to turn a bad roll into a good position. Learn the opening plays, count the race, and manage risk, and you will beat the computer far more often than the dice alone would suggest.
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Backgammon: frequently asked questions
How do moves work?
Each die is a separate move. Click a checker, then a highlighted point a die-value away. Doubles let you make four moves.
What is hitting a blot?
Landing on a point holding a single enemy checker sends it to the bar, where it must re-enter before that player can move anything else.
What is a blot and why does it matter?
A blot is a single checker sitting alone on a point. If the opponent lands on it, your checker is sent to the bar and must re-enter from the far side of the board, costing you a huge amount of progress.
How do the two dice work on each turn?
Each die is a separate move, so you move one checker the number on one die and another, or the same one again, by the other. Rolling doubles lets you make that number four times instead of two.
When can I start bearing off my checkers?
Only once all fifteen of your checkers have reached your home board. If one gets sent to the bar after that, you must bring it all the way home again before you can resume bearing off.
What is the pip count?
The total number of pips each side still needs to bring every checker home and bear it off; both players start at 167. Comparing the two counts picks your plan: race when you are clearly ahead, hold back and fight for a shot when you are behind.
Should I play safe or attack the computer's checkers?
It depends on the race. If you are ahead, run your checkers home and avoid leaving blots. If you are behind, hold back and try to hit one of the opponent's blots to send it to the bar and swing the game.
Why is making points so important?
A point held by two or more checkers is safe from being hit and blocks the opponent's movement. Building a wall of made points, especially in your home board, is the surest way to trap the computer and control the game.
Is Backgammon free to play?
Yes. Backgammon is completely free on Inkplay, with no download, no sign-up, and no in-game purchases. Open the page and play instantly on desktop or mobile.
Can I play Backgammon unblocked?
Yes. Backgammon runs entirely in your browser with no download, install, or plugins, so it loads instantly and keeps working even on school or work networks where bigger game sites get blocked.
More games to play
In the mood for more? Try Chess, Tic Tac Toe, Connect Four, Reversi, or browse all board games and the full games list on Inkplay. Backgammon also appears in Strategy Games.