Backgammon tournament

A Rundown on the Backgammon Board

Backgammon is a game of logic using checkers and dice. The player who bears off or removes one's entire checkers first wins the game. It is played on a backgammon board with 24 spaces called points. There are different areas, on which the game is played, that are clearly distinct. It's important to know these parts to understand the rules, strategy execution and game annotations so here's a rundown on the backgammon board.

The board has 24 slim triangles called points. They appear in alternating colors. The color distinction, however, has no bearing on the game. They are, however, useful in visually singling out a point like a black or white box on a chess board.

The elevated middle part separating the playing area is called the bar. When a blot or a single checker is hit, it is placed on the bar until it's re-entered into play. The bar separates the playing area into the inner/home and the outer board. Accordingly, the area is divided into four quadrants: the player's inner board, the player's outer board, the opponent's inner board, and the opponent's outer board.

Each player's inner and outer quadrants hold their specific one to 12 points. The one to six points are in the inner/home quadrant and the seven to 12 points are in the outer quadrant. Accordingly, each player's one point is the last point on their lower right side. Since checker movements are counterclockwise, a player's one point is the other player's 24 point.

The importance of distinguishing the inner and outer boards and the bar are clearly used in the rules of the game. Here are a couple of those rules: Backgammon rules state that competitors are not allowed to bear off or move their checkers off the playing area until all of that player's checkers are in their inner or home quadrant. And checkers that have been hit are to be placed on the bar until they can re-enter the game from the opponent's home quadrant.

A rundown of the backgammon board distinguishes the bar and the quadrant divisions of the playing area covering the 24 points. A player's inner board or quadrant is the quarter that's on that player's lower right side. Correspondingly, the player's outer board or quadrant is the part on that player's lower left side. In addition, the alternating point colors serve no other purpose than just singling out the individual points on the playing area.