About Classic Backgammon
Classic Backgammon is one of the world’s oldest board games, dating back thousands of years, originating in ancient cultures such as Mesopotamia. It is a game of strategy and a bit of luck with the roll of dice, where two players compete to move all of their pieces off the board before their opponent.
How to play Classic Backgammon
Objectives
The objective of Classic Backgammon is to move all 15 of your pieces from the board to your “home board” and then “bear off” (remove all the pieces from the board) before your opponent does. The first player to remove all the pieces wins
Board Setup
- The Backgammon board consists of 24 narrow triangular squares called “points,” divided into four quadrants: two “home boards” and two “outer boards.” Each player has one home board and one opposite outer board.
- Pieces: Each player has 15 pieces. The pieces are initially placed as follows:
- 2 pieces on point 1
- 5 pieces on point 6
- 3 pieces on point 8
- 5 pieces on point 13 (for the opposing player, the points are numbered in reverse).
Rules
- On each turn, players roll two dice and move their pieces according to the number on the dice (each die allows one separate move).
- Pieces can only move to “open” spots (where there is no more than one opponent’s piece).
- If they roll a pair of identical dice, they can move four times, each time with four points.
- If you move a piece to a spot where there is only one opponent’s piece (called a “blot”), the opponent’s piece is “hit” and placed on the “bar” (the middle bar of the board). The player with the
- piece on the bar must return it to the opponent’s home area before moving any other pieces.
- Once all of your pieces are in your home area, you can start removing pieces from the board. Roll the dice and remove pieces from the corresponding spot (e.g. if you roll a 5, remove pieces from the 5 spot).
