Short backgammon
The classic game: 15 checkers each, checkers get hit, and there is a doubling cube — exactly the game played at world championships.
Rules in short
- 15 checkers each, moving towards each other; bear all of yours off to win
- A lone checker on a point is hit and goes to the bar; it must re-enter first
- Doubling cube: the stake grows, the opponent takes or passes
- Gammon — the opponent has borne off nothing: double the price
- Backgammon — plus a checker left in the winner’s home or on the bar: triple
Why beginners start here
Short backgammon is the only variant with a strong body of theory: opening tables, cube decisions, PR as a measure of play. Our analyzer is most precise here, so after a match you get a specific move where you lost the most — not a vague “well played”.
A match runs to a chosen number of points — 1, 3, 5, 7. The longer the match, the less the dice decide.