How Do You Keep Score in Backgammon: A Beginner's Guide

Are you looking to take up backgammon? Maybe you’ve seen people play or you’re interested in taking up a new table game and this is the one that appeals to you the most. Either way, in order to do that, you’ll need to know everything about the game, including how to keep score. This is exactly what we’ll be focusing on in this blog post.

What is Backgammon?

Backgammon is one of the oldest games in the world. It’s said to date back around to around 5,000 years. Originating from Troy (that’s essential in Turkey for our modern-day equivalent) with strong links to Iraq, it’s certainly stood the test of time. But what exactly is it?

As a two-player table or board game, backgammon is still very much a popular dice game today. Even if it tends to be played more among the older generation, it’s a classic that hasn’t gone out of style.

Whether you’ve picked up your first backgammon board or you’re looking for a new game to try, this could be the one for you. Let’s now take a look at how it’s played.

How to Play Backgammon

When playing backgammon, you start with a board that has 24 points marked out as triangles, across two sections called the home board and outer board. The entire aim of the game is to be able to move all of your checkers to your home board, and then bear them off. The winner of the game is the player who does this first. It’s an interesting game that uses different strategies, clever moves, and the rolling of the dice in order for players to win.

The game begins by lining up each of their own 15 checkers at the correct starting points. These are five checkers on the six point, three checkers on the eighth, five on the thirteenth, and finally two on the twenty-fourth point. This applies to each player. Because each player is facing the other, each player's one point will be their opponent's twenty-four point, and vice versa, for each point on the board.

When ready to play, both players will roll their die to determine who plays first and how they move. The player with the higher number begins and then from then on, they each roll the two dice together. As the game of backgammon takes off, it’s important to know how scoring takes place in order to keep track of how it’s progressing.

Scoring Basics in Backgammon

When the first player begins, the aim of the game is to move each of their colored checkers either clockwise or counter-clockwise around the board (depending on which seat they’re playing in) to bear them all off. As they get started, they’ll move their initial checkers in line with the number that they rolled in the first throw of the die. They can do this in one move or two, but the checker has to land at an open point (aka, one without an existing checker on it).

In understanding the basics of scoring from here on, it’s the case that the first person to bear off all of their color checkers is the winner. This will award them one point. Because of this, it can be quite easy for players to keep track of the overall points – particularly when playing game by game.

Winning Points: How Many?

As we start to think about the points system, it’s good to understand that there are cases when it is possible for a winner to gain more than one point as detailed below:

• When bearing off all checkers, if the opposing player didn’t bear off at least one checker, the winner will gain a gammon and two points.
• Or, if they didn’t bear off at least one checker and has a checker left on either the bar or the winner’s point six, the winner is awarded a backgammon plus three points.

When it comes to playing a backgammon match in particular, this is often where it goes interesting. It may be that the match is based on 5 points, meaning the best of 5 points will be played with the aim of seeing who reaches the highest first.

Counting Points Effectively

In a game of backgammon, it’s important to think about how you’re able to keep score accurately and fairly. It’s safe to say that understanding the point system can be relatively simple when it’s based on the first player to bear all of their checkers first. However, it’s also important to understand some of the deeper rules of the game in order to truly count points effectively.

Firstly, you’ll want to get to know the term ‘pips’. Pips are essentially the distance moved by a checker. See it as a unit of measure in the game. They can often refer to how far a checker needs to go to get home. For more information on how this works, check out the below YouTube video.

Key Rules for Backgammon Scoring

Playing a game of backgammon comes with key rules that will allow you to not only understand it in play a lot more but become a pro at being the first to bear off. So with that in mind, let’s look at each of them in more detail.

Bearing Off

Now, we know that in order to win the game, a player needs to bear off all of their checkers. This can happen when each of their own 15 checkers has made it over to the home board (essentially on either points one, two, three, four, five, or six). When this process begins, a player needs to roll a number that will correlate with one of their points so that they can then bear off one of their checkers.

However, this process does become interesting if there appear to be no checkers on a correlating point. In this scenario, a player can then make a legal move with a checker from a point that has a higher number. If there isn’t one, they’ll then remove a checker from the highest point available.

Blocked Points

In order to be strategic and win a game of backgammon, players may want to set up blocks within their game. Here, when each of the twenty-four points is occupied by a checker belonging to either player, it is known as a blot. Because the aim of the game is to get all of your checkers back to your home board and bear them off, a proven tactic to help here is to obstruct the opponent from doing the same by blocking points.

In order to block points, a player may choose to strategically arrange their checkers on subsequent points to form many blots. This can hinder the opponent's play as hitting a blot will mean the checker has to be placed on the bar, hindering their progress.

Secure Points

However, it’s important to know that there are times when a checker can’t be sent to the bar. If a point is housing two or more checkers of the same color, it is known as a secure point. When this is the case, it cannot be hit – meaning it is a lot more protected. This is a strategy that offers a lot of safety to players.

Doubling the Stake

When a game begins, there will be an agreed-upon stake for each point. However, throughout the game, it might be the case that one player proposes doubling to stakes. In order to suggest this, a player must do so on their turn but before they play the dice.

However, the opposing player doesn’t have to accept this. They are able to refuse the advance, then subsequently concede that particular game and forfeit a point. If accepted, the doubling cube can then be used. It has the stakes of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 shown on it and will be placed side up on the agreed stake for the duration of the game.

Getting Started with Backgammon

When it comes to playing a game of backgammon, as you can see, it can be an exciting and very strategic game. It has quite a complex ruling and scoring system that can make it both challenging and fun to play. If you’ve enjoyed learning all about keeping score in backgammon, all that’s left for you to do is learn as you go.

Now’s the time to pick up your first backgammon board if you haven’t already and get started with your very first game. Just make sure that you choose a worthy opponent and you’ll be sure to be successful in no time at all. Before long, you’ll be winning match after match! Good luck!

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