Welcome to Backgammon 101!

New around here? Browse the syllabus, or just get started with the first lesson!

So you’ve learned a few rules about how to play backgammon, but you still don’t understand anything about equity, gammons, what the (gasp!) doubling cube is, or (even worse) when to use it? Do you want to improve your game? You have come to the right place! 

Backgammon is a fun and ancient game with literally thousands of books and articles to help you improve your game. But most of that material is written with the intermediate player in mind, one who knows what an advanced anchor is and is looking to fine tune their knowledge for when to break it. Where is a true newbie, who’s never even heard of an anchor, supposed to start?

Here, we are going to present a series of articles to try and bring you up to speed, step-by-step, from near-zero to an intermediate level. Each article will be bite-sized and will tackle a single topic. Every article will provide follow-up links to the best explanations in books, videos, or other articles, written by the greatest backgammon players in the world in case you would like to dive deeper into any subject . Once you are done with our “course”, it will be easier for you to identify and name the holes in your game, and you will be capable of reading and enjoying any article or book on advanced topics without feeling lost, to help you become the best backgammon player you can be!

Recent posts

  • When up in the race, race

    Even with all of this discussion about anchors, primes, and board strength, at its core, backgammon is a race. The competing priorities present in any given position can make it hard to see the forest through the trees. Oftentimes, decisions merely boil down to the race: if you’re ahead in the pip count, just run.…

  • Opening rolls

    We’ve reached the point where it’s finally time to memorize the opening rolls. Because a game can’t start with a doublet, there are only 15 dice combinations we need to learn how to play, and at most about 35 reasonable ways those can be played. The optimal play actually changes a bit depending on the…

  • Point on head

    In backgammon, if given the option, it’s usually better to do two good things than only one good thing. The strongest example of this principle is if you can make an inner board point while also hitting one of your opponent’s checkers. This is known as “pointing on” or “pointing on head.” Let’s adjust the…

  • Anchor up

    One of the most important assets in a backgammon game, typically undervalued by new players, is an anchor: an inner board point in your opponent’s home board. You actually start every game of backgammon with the 24-pt anchor made, but this turns out to be the weakest one for a variety of reasons, and so…

  • Intermediate checker play

    We have laid the groundwork, learning about safe play and the different game plans. Finally, we are ready to start improving our play! We will begin with checker play, and will focus on cube play in a subsequent module. Here, we present some basic rules of thumb and the reasons for them, and hopefully will…

  • Just make the 5-point

    Following the last lesson, it should come as no surprise to learn of the importance of the 5-pt in your homeboard. It is the most important point on your board for many reasons: since it is an inner-board point, it enables a blitzing game plan by increasing your opponent’s dancing numbers; since it is adjacent…