Backgammon

How to play Backgammon

Backgammon is a race for two players. You each have 15 checkers and move them around the board by the roll of two dice. The first to bring all 15 home and bear them off wins. You have the light checkers and play against the computer, which has the dark ones.

• Your checkers travel from point 24, at the top right, along the top to point 13, then along the bottom from point 12 to point 1. Points 1 to 6 are your home board. The computer's checkers go the other way round.
• Press Roll, then tap one of your checkers and the point to move it to. Each number on the dice moves one checker that many points, so a 5 and a 3 can move one checker 8 points or two checkers 5 and 3. The points you can reach are marked.
• Rolling a double, such as two 4s, lets you play that number four times.
• You can land on any point that is empty, holds your own checkers, or holds just one of the computer's. You can't land on a point where the computer has two or more.
• Landing on a single computer checker (a blot) hits it: it goes to the bar in the middle and must start again from the beginning. The same can happen to yours. A checker on the bar has to come back in, on the computer's home board, before you can move anything else.
• You must use both numbers if you can. If only one can be played, you must play the larger one if possible.
• Once all 15 of your checkers are in your home board, you can bear them off: a 4 takes a checker off from point 4. If you roll higher than your furthest-back checker, you can bear off from that point instead.
• The first to bear off all 15 wins 1 point. If the loser hasn't borne off any, it's a gammon, worth 2. If the loser also still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board, it's a backgammon, worth 3.

The first roll decides who starts: you each roll one die, and the higher number moves first, using both dice. Choose how strong the computer is above the board: Easy, Medium or Hard. Undo takes back one move at a time, and the dice stay the same. Hint suggests a good way to play your roll. There is no doubling cube.

Tips

• Make points: two checkers on a point are safe, and they block the computer too. Points in your home board are the most useful.
• Try not to leave single checkers where the computer can hit them, especially close in front of its checkers.
• Several blocked points in a row, called a prime, can trap the computer's back checkers.
• The pip count above the board shows how far each side still has to go. If you're well ahead in the race, get your checkers home safely and stop hitting.

Keyboard

Press R to roll. Arrow keys move between the points. Press Enter or Space to pick up a checker, move to a marked point and press Enter again. Escape puts the checker back. H shows a hint and Ctrl+Z undoes.