Welcome to Backgammon 101!

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

So you’ve learned the basic rules of backgammon, but you still don’t understand anything about equity, gammons, what the doubling cube is, or 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 a vast library of books and articles devoted to helping players improve. But most of that material is aimed at intermediate players, those who know what an advanced anchor is and are looking to fine-tune their knowledge for when to break it. Where does a true newbie, who’s never even heard of an anchor, start?

Here, we are going to present a series of articles to try to 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 include links to the best explanations in books, videos, or other articles, written by the greatest backgammon players in the world in case you’d like to dive deeper . Once you are done with our “course”, it will be easier for you to identify the gaps in your game, and you will be capable of reading and enjoying any advanced material without feeling lost, to help you become the best backgammon player you can be!

Recent posts

  • Playing loose 4: Two on the bar is better by far

    For the last lesson in the module, we’re going to learn another beloved backgammon proverb: Two on the bar is better by far. The idea is that it is extremely powerful to hit two checkers — way better than hitting only one checker, and better than many alternative plays. In the current context, it often…

  • Playing loose 3: containment

    The next great reason to leave loose blots in your homeboard is when you’re playing a containment game. Sometimes, you’re desperate to keep your opponent from leaving and will stop at nothing to keep your opponent from doing so. Below is our first example. We’re trailing by a ton in the race, and are split…

  • Playing loose 2: choose violence

    In the last lesson, we highlighted positions where leaving blots in our homeboard somehow turned out to be safer than any alternatives. Here, we will focus on positions at the complete other end of the spectrum — where the consequences of the hit are the main benefits of the loose play. Tempo hit Sometimes, hitting…

  • Playing loose 1: safety

    We conclude this module on checker play by addressing something that we’ve been teasing since the very beginning of the course — when to play loose in the homeboard. This will be a 3-part series, highlighting different categories of positions where it’s worth the risk to play loose. This concept has the highest potential to…

  • “Pay Now” is overrated

    A common predicament arises in many backgammon positions called the “Pay Now vs. Pay Later” dilemma. It comes up most frequently in holding games. The idea is this: your opponent is hanging back waiting for a shot, and you are waiting for the opportune moment to clear your last point and secure victory. Suddenly, the…

  • Three midpoint tips

    We continue our journey around the board with our next stop at the 13-pt, also called the midpoint. By now, you should know exactly what to do with most of the 5 checkers that start on that point — they need to become the builders we were referring to in our last article. Still, there…