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A race for fifteen checkers, dice deal the cards

Backgammon online

Play backgammon online with a friend or against a bot. Run fifteen checkers around the board and bear them off — by the dice, and mostly by what you do with them. No download, no sign-up.

The dice are not what decides it. What decides it is the choice between safety and speed: leaving a checker alone is the fastest way forward and the fastest way back to the bar.

Players2 players
Game length15 minutes
H
Your name
Bot difficulty
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How to play

  1. Each side has fifteen checkers and runs them in opposite directions towards its own home board.
  2. You roll two dice and play each separately. Doubles are played four times.
  3. A point held by two or more enemy checkers is closed. A lone checker can be hit and sent to the bar.
  4. A checker on the bar must re-enter before you may play anything else.
  5. Bearing off starts once every checker is home. First to bear off fifteen wins.

Strategy

  • Holding a point with two checkers beats advancing two pips almost every time.
  • Ahead in the race, avoid contact. Behind, play for the hit — a checker in the way becomes an asset.
  • Closed points in your own home board are the most valuable: your opponent cannot come back in.
  • When both dice only work in one order, the game will not offer you the other. That is the rule, not a bug.

Frequently asked

Are the dice really random?

They come from the game seed and the roll number, so nobody can predict them ahead of time — and the game can still be replayed checker by checker afterwards.

Why will the game not let me play the smaller die?

The rule says play both dice when you can. When only one order works, the other moves are not offered.

Where is the doubling cube?

Not here yet. It is a separate betting layer that would have to reach into the rating and the ladder. The game is complete without it.

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