How to play Backgammon

Backgammon is one of the oldest games in the world — versions were played in Mesopotamia five thousand years ago — and it has never lost its grip, because every roll is a fresh puzzle of luck and judgement. You race fifteen checkers around the board and off the far side before your opponent does, hitting and blocking along the way. This is a single-game match against a bot.

Goal

Bring all fifteen of your checkers into your home board (the bottom-right quarter) and then bear them off. The first player to bear off all fifteen wins. You are the light checkers, moving anticlockwise toward the bottom-right; the bot is the dark checkers, moving the other way.

Moving

• Roll two dice and move a checker the value of each die — or one checker by both. Doubles let you make four moves of that number.
• You may land on an empty point, a point you already own, or a point with a single enemy checker — a blot — which you hit, sending it to the bar.
• You can't land on a point held by two or more enemy checkers.
• Checkers on the bar must re-enter in your opponent's home board before you make any other move.

Bearing off & scoring

Once every checker is home, bear them off by rolling their point's number (a 4 bears off a checker on your 4-point). Tap a checker, then tap the highlighted point or the off-tray. Win an ordinary game for 1 point; if your opponent hasn't borne off any checker it's a gammon (2); if they also still sit on the bar or in your home board it's a backgammon (3). Good play balances safety and speed: make points to build a blockade, don't leave blots where they can be hit, and bring your back checkers forward before the board closes. N starts a new game.