How to Set Up the Board for Backgammon

The rules of backgammon are easy to learn, but mastering the game takes many years. The game consists of 30 checkers, a doubling cube, two dice, two dice cups and a backgammon board. The first step is to set up the backgammon board for play.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Backgammon board
• Dice
• Dice cups
• Doubling cube
• Checkers

1. Sit on one side of the board.

2. Begin counting the pips (the triangles in alternating colors) starting from the bottom right and going around to the top right. You will see that there are 24 pips divided into four quadrants: your home quadrant (bottom right), two outer quadrants (bottom left and top left) and your opponent's home quadrant (top right).

3. Place two of your checkers on your opponent's home board on pip 24 (the top rightmost pip) and five checkers on pip 13 (the top leftmost).

4. Add three checkers on the outer board on pip 8 and five on your home board on pip 6.

5. Set up your opponent's checkers in the opposite configuration: two on your home board on pip 1, five on the outer board on pip 12, three on pip 17 and five on your opponent's home board on pip 19.

6. Set the doubling cube in the space designated for it on the right of the board. Hand your opponent a pair of dice and a dice cup, and take a pair of dice and a dice cup for yourself.

Tips & Warnings

• Thousands of backgammon players play online against other people or computers. Backgammon can be played for money.
• To avoid big losses when playing for money, resist the temptation to accept a double every time it is offered. Learn to accept defeat and resign if you're too far behind.