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Backgammon.THE DICE & STRATEGY CLUB
Nungplay.BACK TO ALL GAMES

THE BOARD HANDBOOK

Learn the race.
Find your edge.

From the opening roll to bearing off your final checker: a guide to our backgammon table.

One die, one move

A roll of four moves a checker four points toward home. Only open points are valid destinations; both dice must be used when possible.

HOW TO PLAY ROLL · RACE · BEAR OFF ALL 15 CHECKERS FIRST TO BEAR OFF 15

Objective

Each player races 15 checkers around the board toward their home board (points 1–6 for one player, 19–24 for the other), then bears them off. The first player to bear off all 15 checkers wins the match.

Setup and turns

  • The game uses the standard backgammon starting position; ORANGE and BLUE alternate turns.
  • On your turn, hit ROLL to throw two dice, then move checkers toward your home board.
  • Each die is a separate move: play one checker per die, or the same checker twice.
  • Doubles (two matching dice) grant four moves of that number.

Moving and blocked points

  • A checker may land on any point that is open: empty, occupied by your own checkers, or occupied by exactly one enemy checker.
  • A point holding two or more enemy checkers is blocked — you cannot land there.
  • You must play as many dice as legally possible. If only one of two unequal dice can be played, you must play the higher one when possible.

Hitting and the bar

  • A lone enemy checker on a point is a blot. Landing on it hits it and sends it to the central bar (the HIT ZONE).
  • While you have checkers on the bar, you must re-enter them into the opponent's home board before making any other move.
  • If no entry point is open, your turn is skipped automatically.

Bearing off

  • Once all 15 of your checkers are inside your home board, you may bear them off using your dice.
  • A die that overshoots may bear off a checker from the highest occupied point, but only when no checker sits on a higher point.
  • If a checker gets hit during bear-off, you must re-enter it and bring it home again before continuing.

Winning: single, gammon, backgammon

  • SINGLE — your opponent has borne off at least one checker.
  • GAMMON ×2 — your opponent has borne off none.
  • BACKGAMMON ×3 — your opponent has borne off none and still has a checker on the bar or in your home board.
  • Resigning an online match awards the win to your opponent.

Arcade controls

  1. Hit ROLL on your turn.
  2. Pick a glowing die in the Power Dice rack.
  3. Select a highlighted checker (a board point or your bar checker).
  4. Choose a glowing destination triangle — or your OFF counter to bear off.

Solo Run pits you (ORANGE) against the Blue CPU core — a Rust/WASM brain that weighs racing, hitting, and point-building. Multiplayer tables are hosted from the lobby: share the six-character room code or the invite link, and the server validates every roll and move.