Backgammon Setup: Where Every Checker Goes at the Start

Backgammon setup takes about a minute once you know the pattern: 15 checkers per player go on four points, and the second player copies the first player's layout from the other side. If you only want the layout, jump to the table below. If you have a board in front of you and the checkers are in a pile, read the steps in order.

What you need before you start

• A backgammon board with 24 triangles (called points) and a bar down the middle.
• 15 checkers for each player, in two colours.
• Two dice each, and a dice cup if the set has one.
• Optionally, a doubling cube (the die with 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64). Most casual games skip it.

How the board is laid out

Sit so that the board is open between you and your opponent. The 24 points are split into four blocks of six, with the bar between the two halves:

• Your home board: the six points where your checkers finish.
• Your outer board: the six points next to your home board.
• Your opponent's outer board and home board: the other two blocks, on the far side from you.

Points are numbered from each player's own point of view. Your home board holds your 1-point to 6-point, the outer board holds 7 to 12, and the numbering keeps going around the far side up to the 24-point. Your opponent counts the same way from their side, so your 24-point is their 1-point. Both players move their checkers from the 24-point down towards the 1-point, in opposite directions.

The starting position

Each player sets up the same four stacks. Counting from your own side:

Point	Checkers	Where it is
24-point	2	The far end, inside your opponent's home board
13-point	5	The midpoint, on the edge of the far side
8-point	3	Your outer board, closest to the bar
6-point	5	Your home board, closest to the bar

That adds up to 15: 2 + 5 + 3 + 5. The two checkers on the 24-point are your back checkers, and they are the ones that have the longest way to travel.

Step by step

1. Put 5 checkers on your 6-point. It is the point in your home board right next to the bar.
2. Put 3 checkers on your 8-point. That is the second point from the bar in your outer board, with the bar point (the 7-point) left empty between your 6-point and 8-point.
3. Put 5 checkers on your 13-point. This is the midpoint, in the first block on the far side of the bar.
4. Put 2 checkers on your 24-point. This is the point in the far corner of the opposite home board.
5. Let your opponent do the same. Their stacks go on the matching points counted from their side, so the finished board is a mirror image and the two 6-points sit facing each other across the board.

Which side is whose

The layout is the same whichever way round you sit, so agree which block is whose home board before you start and count points from your own side. The 7-point (the bar point) stays empty at the start.

After the setup: who goes first

Each player rolls one die. The higher number goes first and plays that roll and the opponent's number as their first move. If both dice match, roll again. After the opening roll, you take turns rolling two dice. For the full rules, see how to play backgammon.

Skip the setup and play online

If you want to start a game without sorting 30 checkers, a browser game does it for you. In Backgammon Multiplayer the board is already in the starting position when it opens, with cream checkers against red ones. You pick player vs player on one screen or play the computer, then roll with the dice button. Backgammonia offers a two-player mode and a computer mode on the same kind of board. Both are free and run in your browser.

If you like this kind of game, our best board games for 2 players list covers a dozen games, and the Board and Card games category has the rest.