Board
Play Backgammon online
Race your fifteen checkers home on the roll of two dice — block, hit, and bear off before your opponent does.
2 players, about 15 minutes. Play Backgammon with friends using a room code, or solo against Nell. Free, no sign-up, works on your phone.
How to play Backgammon
Players
2
Time
~15 min
Goal
Bear off all 15
Objective
You and your opponent each have fifteen checkers travelling in opposite directions around twenty-four points. Bring all fifteen of yours into your home board, then bear them off. First one empty wins.
How to Play
1
One die each decides who opens — highest goes first and plays both dice. Ties are re-rolled. After that, roll two dice at the start of every turn.
2
Each die is a separate move: tap one of your points to pick it up, then tap a highlighted destination. You may move two different checkers or the same checker twice.
3
Roll a double and you play that number four times.
4
You can only land on a point that is open — empty, yours, or holding a single enemy checker. Two or more enemy checkers block it completely.
5
Land on a lone enemy checker (a blot) and it is hit: it goes to the bar and has to re-enter from the far end before that player may move anything else.
6
Once all fifteen of your checkers are home, start bearing off. An exact roll takes a checker off its point; a bigger roll only bears off when nothing of yours sits further out.
Using Your Dice
Situation
What you must do
Both dice playable
Play both — no voluntary passing
Only one die playable
Play the larger one if you can
A sequence blocks the other die
Take the order that plays both
Nothing legal at all
The turn passes — the board shows it
Strategy Tips
💡
Points beat pips. Stacking two checkers on a point makes it yours, and six in a row is a prime your opponent simply cannot jump. Leave blots only when the shot against them is small — count how many of the thirty-six rolls reach you before you drop a lone checker in front of the enemy.