How to Play Backgammon: A Beginner's Guide

Backgammon takes five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. This guide walks a complete beginner through a full game in five steps, using the Turkish tavla rules played on this site. When you finish reading, you can play backgammon free online and try it immediately.

Step 1: How do you set up the board?

The board has 24 narrow triangles called points, and each player controls 15 checkers. From your own perspective the setup is: 2 checkers on your farthest point (the 24-point), 5 on the 13-point, 3 on the 8-point and 5 on the 6-point. Your opponent's setup mirrors yours exactly.

Your goal is a race: bring all 15 checkers around into your home board (points 1–6), then remove them from the board. Whoever bears off all their checkers first wins.

Step 2: How does the opening roll work?

Each player rolls a single die, and the higher number goes first. On PlayTavla, the starting player plays the combined opening roll — both dice that were just thrown — as their first move. If both players roll the same number, the dice are thrown again.

Step 3: How do you move your checkers?

On your turn you roll two dice, and each die is a separate move. A roll of 6-3 lets you advance one checker six points and another three, or move a single checker with both numbers in sequence. Checkers only travel forward, toward your home board.

A point held by two or more opposing checkers is blocked — you cannot land there.
Doubles (such as 4-4) are played four times.
If a legal move exists, you must make it; if none exists, your turn is skipped.

Tip: A checker sitting alone can be hit at any time. Whenever you can, keep checkers in pairs to make safe points.

Step 4: What happens when a checker is hit?

A single checker on a point is called a blot. If your opponent lands on your blot, it is hit and placed on the bar in the middle of the board. You then can't make any other move until that checker re-enters the game through your opponent's home board, on an open point matching one of your dice. If all six entry points are blocked, you lose the turn — which is why building points in your home board is such a strong weapon.

Step 5: How do you bear off and win?

Once all 15 of your checkers are in your home board, you start bearing off: each die removes a checker from the matching point. If that point is empty and no checkers sit on higher points, you take one from the highest occupied point. If a checker gets hit during bear-off, you must bring it home again before removing more.

Bearing off all checkers first wins 1 point. If your opponent hasn't borne off a single checker, you win mars (a gammon), worth 2 points. Turkish tavla has no doubling cube and no triple backgammon score; matches usually run to 5 points.

Simple strategy for your first games

Avoid leaving blots where your opponent's dice can reach them.
Build consecutive points in your home board to trap hit checkers.
Watch the race: if you're ahead, simplify and run; if behind, hold defensive points.

Where to go next

For the full rulebook see backgammon rules, and for vocabulary like blot, anchor and pip count, browse the backgammon terms glossary. Bu rehberin Türkçesi: tavla nasıl oynanır.