Backgammon Instructions

Posted by Nick Niesen on October 26th, 2010

Backgammon is one of those games that people are afraid to learn. They think that because it's such an old game, it must be hard to learn or frightfully dull to play. Nothing could be further from the truth

Backgammon has been a popular game for many years, because anyone can learn the rules and everyone has fun playing it. The game involves rolling the dice and moving your pieces from one side of the game board to the next. There is an element of strategy involved, but the basic rules make it a relaxing and enjoyable game for beginners and advanced players. When you purchase the game, you will likely receive a book of backgammon instructions to help you learn the rules and strategies of the game.

Your main objective in the game of backgammon is to move your game pieces to the opposite side of the playing board, then remove those pieces from the game. This needs to be done before your opponent clears his or her playing pieces. It's basically a race to the finish. The first player to clear all of his or her pieces is the winner.

Begin the game by deciding who will go first. This is usually determined by rolling the dice. The person with the highest roll plays first. You and your opponent will alternate turns, each rolling the dice and moving game pieces around the board. Before you make a move you must roll two dice. The numbers that you roll determine how many spaces you will move along the game board. For example, if you roll a 3-4, you will move three spaces and four spaces. This is where options come into play: you may either move one game piece seven spaces, or you can split your roll to move one piece three spaces, and the other piece four spaces. Roll the dice, and move the piece(s) accordingly. That's pretty much it. Backgammon instructions are very basic and quite easy to learn.

The game can get tricky, for instance if you roll doubles. If the same number appears on both dice, then the roller is allowed to double the numbers. For example, if you roll a 5-5, you may take four moves of five, instead of two. Don't worry; your game set will have a backgammon instruction booklet that you may refer to when you need help with the hard plays.

The spaces on the game board (those long triangles) are called "points". You gain control over a point by having two or more of your game pieces on it. Once this occurs, your opponent cannot come to rest on that point, even if he or she is counting out on a combination roll. If on the other hand, you have only one game piece on any one point, you are at risk of being ousted by your opponent.

These are the very basic backgammon instructions. There are more terms to learn and circumstances to understand during the course of the game. You'll likely come into situations when you don't know what to do, so just refer to your backgammon instruction booklet.

If you are playing for the first time and you have an experienced opponent, you will easily learn the rules and pick up pointers as you go along. Before you know it, you will be a seasoned pro, ready to teach another newbie all about backgammon instructions.