How to play Backgammon: rules and scoring

• 2 players
• 15 checkers each
• 24-point board

Goal: Move all your checkers around the board into your home board and bear them off before your opponent does.

Setup

• Each player has two dice.
• Checkers start in the standard layout.

How to play

1. Take turns rolling two dice and moving checkers by the numbers rolled.
2. Doubles give four moves.
3. You can’t land on a point held by two or more opposing checkers.
4. Landing on a single opposing checker hits it.
5. A hit checker must re-enter before its owner can move anything else.

Scoring

• The winner of a hand scores 1 point.
• A gammon (the opponent hasn’t borne off any checkers) scores 2.
• If the doubling cube was used, the hand’s points are multiplied by its value; it can be turned again, so 2, 4, 8 and so on.

Winning

• The first to reach the chosen score (e.g. 5) wins; a gammon counts 2.
• You can also pick a number of hands when setting up: play that many and whoever has the most points wins.
• When playing a set number of hands, a tie means one more hand.

Note

• In Mahbusa and Gülbahar there is no hitting.
• In Mahbusa a checker landing on a single opposing checker pins it.
• In Gülbahar both players move in the same direction.