# Help me learn Backgammon **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [June 28, 2023, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198 "2023-06-28T02:32:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/1 "2023-06-28T02:32:27Z")
OK, I don’t mean ‘help me learn’ as in, "I’m going to drop everything so I can learn this game’. I just have too many other things to do. But I _would_ like some help learning the game. I’ve read the rules, I’ve downloaded Backgammon Masters Online, but when I try to play the game it seems that nothing I do is allowed/right. So I need a (free) ‘tutorial’ program that gives suggestions along the way so that I can see what’s happening. I can’t learn if I don’t know why what I’m trying isn’t allowed! (ETA: This is the same problem I encountered with Go.) (ETA 2: Sorry. This should have gone into The Game Room. Moderator notified.) ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/2 "2023-06-28T11:30:41Z")
Have I got this right - you struggle to make legal moves? Here’s the basic stuff. When you roll your two dice, you have: - to use both if possible - if only one, it must be the highest number You move any counter first using one roll, then any counter using the second. (If you roll a double, you have 4 numbers to use up.) You cannot land one of your counters on a point occupied by two or more enemy counters. Hope that helps! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/3 "2023-06-28T12:46:35Z")
Can you post an example of a move you attempted but the game said was illegal? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/4 "2023-06-28T12:50:44Z")
GNU Backgammon has precisely the features you ask for: it will give you various hints and tell you how good/bad those (or your) moves are. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/5 "2023-06-28T13:36:38Z")
Huh. I opened the game, and now it’s letting me move things. (It’s been a while since I tried to play it.) So now I can move… randomly. I have no idea what I’m doing. > [@DPRK](#): > > GNU Backgammon has precisely the features you ask for: it will give you various hints and tell you how good/bad those (or your) moves are. Now that I can move, I see that it highlights the points I can move to. I just moved a couple of discs to the end, and the game display an undo arrow on the screen. If the goal is to get to the end, why would I want to undo it? Why should I move one disc instead of another? If GNU gives hints, I’ll have to look for it. Do you have a link? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/6 "2023-06-28T14:03:07Z")
Googling “backgammon tutorial” brings up quite a bit, including videos and a WikiHow page. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/7 "2023-06-28T14:27:08Z")
Backgammon is really a simple racing game at the base using a board and a pair of six-sided dice. The board is divided into quarters, each of which has six triangles (aka ‘points’) and the men are moved from point to point according to the dice rolls. At the start the pieces are arranged in a set pattern on certain points, mirroring each other. The players then race (in opposite directions, i.e. clockwise vs. counterclockwise) to get all their pieces (“Men”) from their starting locations around to their designated Home quadrant. Once all of a player’s men are in his home quadrant, then he starts ‘bearing them off’ – removing them from the board. The first player to get all his men off wins. As to the actual moving: you move a man for each of the numbers you roll. As in, if you roll a three and a four, then you can move one man three points and one man four points. Or move a single man for both numbers, if you choose. If you roll doubles, you get to move twice for each number. So if you rolled double fives, you could move four men for five points each, or one man for five points and another for 15 points, or two men ten points each, or any combo like that. The key complication is that you MUST be able to land your man at the end of each move on a “legal” point. Which points are ‘illegal’? The points that your opponent has two or men already occupying. So consider that double five. Maybe you’d like to move the two men on a particular point ten points each…except your opponent has two men sitting on the point five away. Since you cannot legally land on that point, you are unable to move the ten points ever though the point ten points away IS legal. If there is no legal move available for a number you rolled, you’re out of luck. (You do move the other die’s number, assuming there is a legal move for that number.) During the bearing off phase, you can remove a man from the point number you rolled OR move a man from one point to another that number away (as in, from the four point to the one point after rolling a three) OR if you don’t have any man on that point or a higher one you can take off a man from the highest available point. Like, you have a five to play, and no men on five to remove, and no man on six you can move down five spaces, then you can remove a man from point four. Or whichever point is the highest you have a man on. Having a single man on a point is called a ‘blot’ and is dangerous. The other player can still land on that point (it takes two or more men to own a point) and if they do, your man is knocked off the board. Then he has to be reentered in the quadrant the furthest from your home quadrant, meaning a lot more distance to be covered. As you probably predict, the reentry is controlled by your dice roll. Your man comes out onto one of the points you roll and then you move the other number rolled as usual. If you are really unlucky your man won’t be able to come out – you roll a four and a six, but your opponent has two or men on both of those point already, then you lose out that turn completely. So then the common strategy is to try to make points (get two men on the same point) to deny that point to the other player. If you can’t make a point, try to leave blots (single men) on the points that are most likely to help you gain a useful point in the future, Or maybe leave a blot on the point the opponent is least likely to be able to hit. Or just that will hurt you least if he does hit it. As in, if the opponent hits a blot you’re already gotten most of the way around the track, having to reenter that man all the way back at the start is a major setback. That’s the basics if you’re just playing for fun. However, then there’s the doubling die. Another six sided die, but this one is labeled 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64. See, backgammon is mainly played by adults as a gambling game. Suppose you start by agreeing the winner gets one dollar. (Or a nickel, or hundred bucks. Whatever.) Then at some point in the game, you feel you’ve been lucky with your rolls, you turn the die to the 2. Your opponent has to either agree to now play the game for twice the original stakes, two dollars in my example, or else concede and pay the dollar you. He then gets control of the doubling die. If later on the rolls move the other player to think he now has the better chance, he can turn the die to 4, which you will then have to agree to bet four dollars or forfeit the game and two dollars. And so on, and so on. Yep, can get pricey. Have fun! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/8 "2023-06-28T14:46:29Z")
Yes, the idea is to move all your men to the other end (and take them off.) However there are two major difficulties: - you can’t take any man off until all your men are in the final ‘quarter’ - if you have a lone counter and an opponent’s counter lands on it, your counter goes all the way back to the start 😭 (and then steps off board, from where it has to come back on) So you want to move your men in pairs (i.e. two or more on a point) so they can’t be taken. Also if you have a ‘row’ of double counters, your opponent can’t land on those squares. So the best possible formation is to have 12 men in pairs on 6 successive points. 😍 This means your opponent cannot take any of the 12, nor can he move onto any of the 6 points. So any counters he has behind your formation have to stay trapped. You can use your other 3 counters to advance safely. There’s a lot more to the game, but if you try to keep your men in pairs and on successive points, you’ll do well. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/9 "2023-06-28T16:02:11Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Once all of a player’s men are in his home quadrant, then he starts ‘bearing them off’ – removing them from the board. > [@glee](#): > > you can’t take any man off until all your men are in the final ‘quarter’ OK, so I’m white and I start in the upper-right quadrant of the board and move counter-clockwise. I can’t take pieces off of the board until _all_ of my pieces are in the lower-right quadrant. Right? > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > As to the actual moving: you move a man for each of the numbers you roll. As in, if you roll a three and a four, then you can move one man three points and one man four points. Or move a single man for both numbers, if you choose. I can move one piece three spaces, and the other one four spaces, or I can move one piece seven spaces. Can I move one piece six spaces and another one one space? I think I get the double-five example. > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Which points are ‘illegal’? The points that your opponent has two or men already occupying. In other words, I can only land on an opponent-occupied point if my opponent has only one piece on it. > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Since you cannot legally land on that point, you are unable to move the ten points ever though the point ten points away IS legal. So if _one_ piece can’t be moved, I can’t move the other piece either? > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > During the bearing off phase, you can remove a man from the point number you rolled OR move a man from one point to another that number away (as in, from the four point to the one point after rolling a three) OR if you don’t have any man on that point or a higher one you can take off a man from the highest available point. Like, you have a five to play, and no men on five to remove, and no man on six you can move down five spaces, then you can remove a man from point four. Or whichever point is the highest you have a man on. I’m starting to become confused. I think it may be the terminology. There are six points per quadrant. In the ‘home quadrant’ at least, they are 6-5-4-3-2-1. Right? In your example of moving from the 4 to the 1, that’s no different from any other move as far as I can tell. If I were on 4, and I roll a 4, then I get to remove my piece from the board. What if I roll a 5? Do I lose my turn, since I need a 4 to get off? I don’t think I’m quite getting the ‘take off a man from the highest available point’. How can I ‘bear off’ a man from point 4, when I have a 5? > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > As you probably predict, the reentry is controlled by your dice roll. Your man comes out onto one of the points you roll and then you move the other number rolled as usual. If you are really unlucky your man won’t be able to come out – you roll a four and a six, but your opponent has two or men on both of those point already, then you lose out that turn completely. Let’s say my opponent has 5 guys on the right-most point in the upper-right quadrant, and 2 guys on the next point. I roll snake-eyes. I can’t come out, and I lose my turn if I can’t move another piece. What if I roll 11? Can I come out and move to the 11th point from the right, even though the starting point is illegal? > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > the points that are most likely to help you gain a useful point in the future How would I know that? > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > However, then there’s the doubling die. So the doubling die is not used unless you’re gambling. I _think_ I understand a little better than I did just by reading the rules online. The examples help. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/10 "2023-06-28T16:07:08Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I can move one piece three spaces, and the other one four spaces, or I can move one piece seven spaces. Can I move one piece six spaces and another one one space? I think I get the double-five example. You must move the 3 and the 4. It can be the same piece using both moves, but they must both be legal moves by themselves. You can’t move a 6 and 1, you can’t move a 7 in one action. If the 3 and 4 space moves are blocked by your opponents pieces you cannot move. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What if I roll 11? Can I come out and move to the 11th point from the right, even though the starting point is illegal? Nope. Every roll of the dice must be moved individually. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/11 "2023-06-28T16:10:26Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > you can’t move a 7 in one action. But **StarvingButStrong** said: > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Or move a single man for both numbers, if you choose. Moving a single man for both numbers is moving seven. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/12 "2023-06-28T16:21:09Z")
Yes one man for both numbers, sequentially. Not combined, you can’t add the dice together. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/13 "2023-06-28T16:24:50Z")
> [@glee](#): > > You move any counter first using one roll, then any counter using the second. So if you roll a 3+4, then you have to move those two numbers individually. Yes, if you move the same man you will finish up 7 squares ahead, but you have to execute each move in turn. Or you can move one man with a 3 and another with a 4. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/14 "2023-06-28T16:25:29Z")
Download it here: [https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnubg/gnubg-1\_07\_001-20221114-setup.exe](https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnubg/gnubg-1_07_001-20221114-setup.exe) ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/15 "2023-06-28T16:26:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > OK, so I’m white and I start in the upper-right quadrant of the board and move counter-clockwise. I can’t take pieces off of the board until _all_ of my pieces are in the lower-right quadrant. Right? That’s correct! (And I mentioned the best way to get there is to advance in pairs on a point and groups of pairs (if you see what I mean.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/16 "2023-06-28T16:26:32Z")
It says ‘Safari can’t open the file.’ ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/17 "2023-06-28T16:30:24Z")
right-click the link and select “Save link as”. Then run it (if windows will let you. Depends on your win version and how computer savvy you are !) ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/18 "2023-06-28T16:31:08Z")
> [@glee](#): > > So if you roll a 3+4, then you have to move those two numbers individually. Correct me if I’m wrong, if applied to a single piece, you can move that chip 3 spaces then 4 or 4 spaces then 3, which will change the midpoint spot where you land, making the difference between potentially a legal move vs a blocked move, or knocking off an opponents piece. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/19 "2023-06-28T16:34:15Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > right-click the link and select “Save link as”. > Then run it (if windows will let you. Depends on your win version and > how computer savvy you are !) This time I got a more specific error: ‘Microsoft Windows applications are not supported on macOS.’ ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2023, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198/20 "2023-06-28T16:37:35Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > It says ‘Safari can’t open the file.’ That’s the Windows version; for Mac you can follow these instructions > **[Install Gnu Backgammon on Mac OSX](https://macappstore.org/gnubg/)** > > Install Gnu Backgammon on Mac OSX using brew cask (install via brew); brew is useful in any case. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-learn-backgammon/986198.md?page=2)