Backgammon variants

BG Space runs six backgammon variants on one engine, and each has its own rating — being strong at short backgammon adds nothing to your long rating. Here is what each one is about.

Play this variant

Every variant available on the platform

classic

Short backgammon

15 checkers, the doubling cube, gammon and backgammon. Start here.

no hits

Long backgammon

Start from the head, no hitting — blocking instead of fighting.

fast

Hyper

Three checkers each: a game takes minutes.

in checkers

Khachapuri

Score in checkers rather than points. The most played variant here.

own rules

6:1

Stricter gammon and backgammon conditions.

pinning

Tapa

Plakoto: checkers are pinned, not hit.

table format

Shvets

Not a seventh variant but a table with a queue: Boss, Captain and personal cubes.

Where to start

If you have played backgammon at home in Eastern Europe, start with long: those are the rules most families play by. If you want the game the world plays and want your matches analysed, start with short — the doubling cube, the rating and the analyzer are all built around it.

Khachapuri is the most played variant here with 10,001 games, followed by short (6,629) and long (2,438).

Play backgammon online