Backgammon Board Setup: Checkers, Points and Direction

The triangles are called points. Four groups of six make 24 points; the strip between the halves is the bar. The bar is not a numbered point. Light checkers are White in this illustration, and every printed number belongs to White’s perspective.

Count the four stacks for each color, not just the total. A board with fifteen checkers in the wrong places is still incorrectly set up. Neither player begins with a checker on the bar or already borne off.

Your own home board is always points 1–6. Your outer board is 7–12. The opponent’s home board is your 19–24. A checker travels down your numbers: 24 toward 1, and eventually off. Sitting on the other side changes the names of the points, not the physical board.

To translate a point, subtract its number from 25: your point n is the opponent’s point 25 − n. The bar interrupts the drawing, not the count. Moving between 13 and 12 is one pip.

1. Identify each player’s home board and direction before placing checkers.
2. Place the 2–5–3–5 pattern on own points 24–13–8–6.
3. Check the opponent’s stacks using 25 minus your point number.
4. Count fifteen of each color and confirm the bar is empty.
5. Place the doubling cube in the center at value 1; its 64 face normally represents the initial 1.

Many physical boards have no printed numbers and can be oriented with the home boards on either side. This diagram fixes one orientation so directions are unambiguous; the rules do not make light checkers universally clockwise or dark checkers universally counter-clockwise.

The opening roll uses one die per player; ties are rerolled and the higher roller plays both unlike numbers. Continue with dice and doubles once the setup is correct.

• Copying the opponent’s stacks onto the same numbered points instead of translating perspective.
• Putting five checkers on the 8-point and three on the 6-point: those counts belong the other way round.
• Counting the bar as a point or counting the checker’s starting point as its first pip.
• Assuming checker color fixes movement direction on every board orientation.

Is my 1-point the opponent’s 1-point?

No. Your 1-point is their 24-point. Every shared physical point has two perspective-dependent numbers whose sum is 25.

Does everyone start with 15 checkers?

Standard backgammon uses fifteen each. The four starting stacks contain 2, 5, 3 and 5 checkers. Other variants may use different setups; they are not this lesson’s game.

Can I rotate the board?

Yes. Agree which home board is yours and follow your numbering downward. Rotate the whole arrangement, rather than reversing one player’s checker direction independently.

Original Bet On Gammon explanations, worked examples and illustrations. Further reading and rule references are listed below.

• USBGF — Beginner’s Guide to Backgammon ↗ — standard setup, checker play, bearing off, cube and results.
• USBGF — Tournament Rules ↗ — the governing rules hub.
• USBGF — Rules for In-Person Play ↗ — match and cube procedures; follow your event’s rules and director.

Beginner’s Guide to Backgammon brings the full game together. Use the rules reference for a compact check, or return to the learning order.