Backgammon Variations and House Rules

The moves of backgammon are the same almost everywhere, but how a game is scored and how long you play vary a good deal from one table to the next. Here are the choices our free backgammon game offers in Settings, followed by other variations you may have met.

One Game or a Match

Many families simply play one game at a time: whoever bears off first wins. Clubs and tournaments play a match instead, to an agreed number of points. Each game is worth 1 point, a gammon 2 and a backgammon 3, so a big win counts for more. Odd numbers are traditional, and a match to 5 or 7 takes an evening.

In our game: choose One game, or a match to 3, 5 or 7 points, under House rules in Settings. The default is a match to 3. A new length starts with your next new game.

The Doubling Cube

The cube arrived in the twentieth century and changed the game. Before rolling, a player may offer to double the stakes. The opponent takes and plays on for twice as much, gaining the right to make the next double, or passes and loses the game at the current stake. A game can be redoubled again and again, to 4, 8, 16 and beyond.

The cube rewards judgment: it lets a player who is well ahead cash in, and it forces a decision on the player behind. Many casual players leave it out, which is why it is off in our game unless you turn it on.

In our game: tick "Use the doubling cube" under House rules. A Double button appears before your roll when you are allowed to double, and the computer may double you too. Its Why? explains its chances.

The Crawford Rule

In a match with the cube, the player who is behind has nothing to lose by doubling when the leader needs only one more point. The Crawford rule, named after an American player who proposed it, fixes this: the first game after either player reaches one point short of the match is played with no doubling at all. From the next game on, the cube is back.

In our game: the Crawford rule is always on when the cube is used in a match. A tag over the board marks the Crawford game.

Rules Our Game Does Not Use

Beavers

Some players allow a player who is doubled to take and immediately redouble while keeping the cube on their own side. It is popular in money games among friends but not in matches.

The Jacoby rule

In money games, a gammon or backgammon counts only single unless the cube has been turned. This speeds games up, because nobody plays on for a gammon without doubling. It does not apply to match play.

Automatic doubles

Some tables double the stake automatically whenever the opening dice show the same number. Players usually agree a limit to how often this can happen in one game.

Different starting positions

A popular variation moves two checkers from the 13-point and 6-point back to the 23-point at the start, giving each player three back checkers on the far side. Games last longer and involve more fighting. Other relatives of backgammon start with every checker off the board and bring them in by the dice, and some old versions are played with both sides moving the same direction.

Chouette

When more than two people want to play, one player (the "box") plays against a team led by a captain, who makes the moves after consulting partners. The winner of each game stays on or takes the box.

Rules That Stay the Same

Whatever the variation, a few rules are universal: a point with two opposing checkers is blocked, a checker on the bar must enter first, both dice must be used if possible (the larger if only one can be), and bearing off starts only when all 15 checkers are home. Our game enforces these for you, so you are never left wondering whether a move is allowed.

Learn the basics on the backgammon rules page, sharpen your play with the strategy guide, or take a break with a game of Chicken Foot dominoes.