• Two checkers are on point # 24,
• Five checkers are on point # 13,
• Three checkers are on point # 8,
• Five checkers are on point # 6.

Your opponent's checkers are set up in a mirror image of yours, and you move in opposite directions, with one of you traveling clockwise and the other traveling counter-clockwise.

Starting the Game

To decide who plays first, each player throws one die. Both dice must land inside the board to the right of the bar, meaning that your opponent's die will be to your left. The player who throws the highest number goes first, using the numbers thrown to make his first move. If the two dice are the same on the first roll, the doubling cube is moved to two, and the dice are thrown again.

At the opening stage of the game, the value of the game is one point (meaning if you said the game was worth 1 "dollar," that would be the value of each point). Either player can offer to double the stake by turning the doubling cube, which starts out with the number 64 showing, to the side showing the number 2. The other player can either accept the double, or forfeit the game. The last person to accept a double may double next, unless a player immediately doubles when being offered the cube. That situation is called a "beaver," and a player who beavers maintains the cube.

Regular Play

Players take turns rolling the dice. A player may move his or her checkers based on the number appearing on the dice. Each die has a separate value, meaning that a player may move two different checkers in one roll, as long as each checker is moved exactly the number of points shown on a die.

Checkers are allowed to land on one of three types of points:

• an empty point,
• a point occupied by the player's own men,
• a point occupied by a single checker (a blot) owned by your opponent.

Landing on a blot, an unprotected checker, sends your opponent's man to the bar. When you land on a blot, the software will put your opponent's checker on the bar. The checker remains on the bar until its owner succeeds in returning it to the game, by rolling a number corresponding to an open point in the opponent's home board. If the player does not roll a number on either die which corresponds to an open space in the opponent's home board, the turn is forfeited.

If you roll doubles; i.e., both of the dice show the same number, you can move the equivalent of twice the roll. For example; if you roll a double three, you can move three points four times, instead of just twice. You may move one checker three points four times, two checkers twice each, or any other combination. There is no limit to the number of checkers that may occupy a point, as long as they are all the same color. Your turn is over when you select done or click on the dice.

When all of your checkers are in your home board, you can start bearing off. The first player to bear off all of his checkers wins the game. If you are hit while you are bearing off, you must reenter your checker from the bar into your opponent's home board, and move it back into your home board before you can resume bearing off. If you bear off all of your checkers before your opponent begins to bear off, you have "gammoned." A gammon earns you double the stake of the game.

If all of your checkers have been removed from the board and your opponent has not removed any and still has a checker in your home board, then the stakes are tripled. This is known as backgammon. If you're playing a match game, then your gammons, backgammons, and dice doubling can really affect the match.