Backgammon
Race your checkers home, hit your opponent's blots and use the doubling cube, in matches to 1, 3, 5 or 7 points.
How to play
Each player has 15 checkers and moves them around the board towards their home board, then bears them off. The first to bear off all 15 wins the game.
- Each turn you roll two dice and move checkers by the numbers shown. Doubles are played four times.
- You may not land on a point held by two or more enemy checkers. Landing on a single enemy checker (a blot) hits it: it goes to the bar and must re-enter in your home board before the hitter's opponent can move anything else.
- You must play both dice if possible. If only one can be played, it must be the larger one when that is possible.
- You may bear off only when all your checkers are in your home board.
Doubling cube and scoring
A game is worth 1 point. A gammon (the loser has borne off no checkers) is worth 2, and a backgammon (the loser also has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board) is worth 3. Everything is multiplied by the cube.
- Before rolling, you may offer a double. Your opponent either takes (the cube doubles and they own it) or drops (they lose the game at the current stake).
- Only the cube's owner may redouble.
- Crawford rule: in the game after a player first reaches one point from winning the match, no doubling is allowed.
Ratings change once per match.
Nackgammon
The same game, but each side starts with two extra checkers on the 24-point and one more on the 23-point, taken from the 13-point and the 6-point. This makes the early game sharper and more tactical.