Backgammon
Backgammon races your fifteen pieces around the board and bears them off before your opponent. Capture, blocks and bars all work. Free, no install.
Backgammon is the classic race game. Roll two dice, move your pieces the full distance, and be first to get all fifteen off the board.
about 44.0 KB
Works offline after the first visit. No install, no sign-up.
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How to play Backgammon
The board and the race
There are twenty-four points and fifteen pieces each. You are the light pieces and travel towards the low-numbered points; your opponent travels the other way. Both of you end up in your own last six points, and then race to take your pieces off the board.
Two dice, each used once
You roll two dice and move one piece the full distance of one die, then another piece the distance of the other — or the same piece twice. Roll a double and that number is used four times instead of twice.
Landing on a single piece sends it back
Each point can hold any number of your own pieces without limit. If you land on a point holding exactly one of your opponent's pieces, that piece is knocked off the board and goes to the bar, and must re-enter from the start. This is the whole point of leaving single pieces around: they are the targets.
Two or more pieces make a point safe
You cannot land on a point holding two or more of your opponent's pieces. The move is simply not offered. A point guarded like that is a wall, and working out where the walls are is most of the game.
The bar comes first, always
If you have pieces on the bar, nothing else may move until every one of them is back in play. They re-enter on your opponent's side of the board, and the same landing rules apply — a re-entry onto a guarded point is not allowed, so a well-built wall can hold you off the board for a turn.
Getting off the board
You may only start taking pieces off once all fifteen are inside your own last six points and your bar is empty. A die takes off a piece standing exactly that distance from the edge. If no piece sits on the exact point, a larger die may take off your highest remaining piece — a smaller one never can.
You must use every die you can
If any legal move remains, the turn does not end — you have to play it out. Only when nothing can move at all does the turn pass. The screen shows how many dice are still to be played, so you always know how much of the turn is left.
The opponent follows the same rules
It chooses from exactly the same list of legal moves that your pieces are checked against, so it cannot play a move you would not have been allowed.
What this version leaves out
There is no doubling cube and no gammon or backgammon bonus scoring. Whoever gets all fifteen pieces off first wins, and that is the end of the round. Those two additions are separate conventions rather than part of the game itself, and leaving them out keeps a round short.
Backgammon Tips and Strategy
Keep your home board open
Six or more of your own checkers on your home points stops your pieces getting in there at all, and being locked out there is the most common way to lose the race. Avoid building a wall in your own six points even when it looks like a safe place to sit.
A hit buys time
Landing on a single opposing checker sends it to the bar, where it has to come back in before it can move anywhere else. That one checker costs you the tempo but slows everything your opponent still has to do.
Bear off efficiently
Once all your checkers are home the order you remove them in changes how many dice you waste. Taking the checkers off the highest points first, and pairing them so one die does useful work on two pieces, saves several turns.
Backgammon — Frequently Asked Questions
Why will this piece not move at all?
Most likely because you have pieces on the bar. While any of them are off the board, re-entering them is the only legal move — everything else is locked until the bar is clear.
Why can I not land on that point?
It holds two or more of your opponent's pieces. A single piece there could be captured, but two or more make it a wall, and the move is not offered at all.
I have a piece exactly four from the edge but a four will not take it off.
Taking pieces off requires all fifteen to be in your own last six points and the bar to be empty. Until then, no die can take a piece off the board — the piece can still move inside your home area.
The round will not let me pass my turn.
Because a legal move still exists. Every die that can be played must be played; the turn only passes when nothing at all can move.
Does it need installing or an account?
No. It runs in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer and works offline after the first visit.
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