Backgammon Rules — How to Play and Keep Score
Backgammon is scored in points across a series of games rather than within one, and the doubling cube means a single game can be worth anything from one point to a great deal more. A match to five can be over in two games or take eight. That combination of a small target, a multiplier and three different win types is exactly the sort of arithmetic that gets miscounted after the second drink.
Overview
Backgammon is scored in points across a series of games rather than within one, and the doubling cube means a single game can be worth anything from one point to a great deal more. A match to five can be over in two games or take eight. That combination of a small target, a multiplier and three different win types is exactly the sort of arithmetic that gets miscounted after the second drink.
Setup
Two players, one match length. Five and seven are the usual choices for a casual match, eleven or more for a serious one. The doubling cube starts on the side of the board showing 64, which means it is unowned and the stake is one point. Roll one die each to decide who goes first, using the two numbers rolled as the first move.
How to play
Move your checkers around and off the board, hitting your opponent's blots to send them to the bar. Before rolling on your own turn, you may offer the cube. Your opponent either drops, conceding the current stake immediately, or takes, doubling the stake and gaining sole control of the cube. Only the player holding the cube may offer the next double.
Scoring
Each finished game is worth a base value multiplied by the cube. The base value is 1 for a plain win, where the loser has borne off at least one checker. It is 2 for a gammon, where the loser has borne off nothing. It is 3 for a backgammon, where the loser has borne off nothing and still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board.
The cube value starts at 1 and doubles with each accepted double: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64. A gammon on a cube of 4 is worth 8 points. If a double is dropped, the game ends at once and the doubler wins the value the cube had before that offer, which is always a single point win and never a gammon.
With the Jacoby rule on, gammons and backgammons count only 1 unless the cube has been accepted at some point in that game.
Under the Crawford rule, the first game played after either player reaches one point short of the match target is played with no doubling. Doubling is allowed again from the following game.
Ending the game
The match ends the moment a player reaches or passes the target. Points above the target are irrelevant, so a gammon on a cube of 4 that takes a player from 3 to 11 in a match to 5 simply wins. There are no ties.
Common variations
Money play drops the match target entirely and settles each game separately, usually with beavers and the Jacoby rule enabled. Automatic doubles on a tied opening roll are common in friendly games and almost never allowed in tournaments.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | First to target |
|---|---|
| Played to | 5 points by default |
| Score sheet | Counting up to or down from a limit |
| Typical round score | 1 – 12 |
| Negative scores | Never — scores only go up |
| Worth knowing | One entry per completed game, equal to the win type multiplied by the cube value. The app should offer win type and cube value as two pickers and compute the product rather than asking for it. |
Backgammon — score sheet
Tools for Backgammon
Set up the way this game wants them.
House rules and settings
Every table plays Backgammon a little differently. These are the 7 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
Match length: what is the default in Backgammon?
How many points win the match. Odd numbers are conventional. Three or five is an evening, eleven or more is a serious session.
Default: 5. Adjustable from 1 to 25 in steps of 2.
In the app: “Match length”.
Crawford rule: on or off in Backgammon?
When one player gets to within a single point of winning the match, the doubling cube is switched off for exactly one game. Without it, the trailing player would double every game with nothing to lose.
Default: on.
In the app: “Crawford rule”.
Jacoby rule: on or off in Backgammon?
Gammons and backgammons count as a plain single point unless the cube has been offered and accepted in that game. It is a money-play rule that speeds things up and does not belong in a real match.
Default: off.
In the app: “Jacoby rule”.
Beavers and raccoons: what are the options in Backgammon?
A beaver lets a player who is doubled immediately redouble while keeping the cube. A raccoon lets the original doubler answer that with another double. Both make the stakes climb very fast.
Default: Not allowed. Three options:
In the app: “Beavers and raccoons”.
Automatic doubles on a tied opening roll: what are the options in Backgammon?
When both players roll the same number to decide who starts, the cube is bumped up a level before the game begins. Fun in money games, normally banned in matches.
Default: Never. Three options:
In the app: “Automatic doubles on a tied opening roll”.
Highest the cube may go: what are the options in Backgammon?
A ceiling on the doubling cube. Sixty-four is the highest number printed on a real cube, although in theory the stakes can keep climbing.
Default: 64. Five options:
In the app: “Highest the cube may go”.
Record how each game was won: on or off in Backgammon?
Keeps a note of whether each game was a single, a gammon or a backgammon, and what the cube was on. Useful for seeing whether you are losing on dice or on cube decisions.
Default: on.
In the app: “Record how each game was won”.
Variants of Backgammon
Money play
No match target. Each game is settled at its own value, usually with the Jacoby rule and beavers switched on.
Nackgammon
A different starting position with two checkers back instead of two on the twenty-four point, producing longer and more complex games.
Hypergammon
Only three checkers each, which makes for a fast, sharp race that is almost entirely about the cube.
Backgammon is also known as
Tavla, Tric-trac, Nard. These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.
Coming to the App Store.