How the Backgammon Game is Played
Who starts? To decide who will start the game, each player rolls a single die and the player with the highest number begins, using both his number and that of his opponent in his opening move. This is called the Opening roll.
Advancing checkers The number of points, or pips, that a player may advance his checkers is decided by the roll of the dice, with each die representing a separate move. For example, if you roll 4 and 2, you can either move one checker a total of 6 pips, provided that the intermediate point is open, or you may move one checker 4 pips and another checker 2 pips.
Rolling doubles If a player rolls doubles, the numbers are played twice. For example, if both dice read 5, you have four moves of 5, which can be played in any legal combination you wish: four checkers moved 5 pips each, one checker moved 20 pips (4 x 5 pips), or any such combination.
Direction of play A player's checkers may be moved in only one direction around the board, in an imaginary U-shaped trail starting at Point 24 of the opponent's home board and ending at Point 1 of his own home board. Backwards moves are never permitted.
A checker may only be advanced to an Open Point: that is, any point that is free of checkers or is occupied by the players own checkers, or has no more than one of the opponents' checkers placed on it. There is no limit to the amount of checkers you may place on a single point that is in your possession. A Checker may not be advanced to a point that is occupied by two or more of your opponents' checkers.
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