A Backgammon board is made up of 24 triangular "points" and has two end-zones. Game play involves a player moving all of their 15 tokens from their starting points until all tokens are in the player's end-zone. At which point the player can begin to move their tokens into their goal.

To start the game, each player throws one die. If both dice are identical, the players will roll again, repeating if necessary, until the dice no longer match. The player who rolls the highest gets to move first using the face values of the most recent dice roll.
Dice Rolls
The dice roll determines the number of points that a player's tokens can move as they play. For each dice roll, the following rules apply:
  • Players roll a pair of dice on each move. Each die represents a single move. It is possible to either add up the numbers on the dice and move one token forward for the total score, or alternatively, two tokens can be moved in accordance with the two numbers on the dice. For instance, if the numbers on the dice are 2 and 4, that means that you can either move 6 steps forward with one token, or 2 steps with one token and 4 steps with another.
  • If both dice are equal (ie: "doubles"), the dice are split and the player gets 4 moves with the same die values.
  • Moving Tokens
    Tokens are moved along the points in a loop from the opponent's goal towards the player's goal. Players move one token at a time the number of points for each die cast. Players are obligated to make moves whenever possible, even if the only possible moves would be detrimental to the player's game.
    An available token may progress to any of the following points: (1) a point already containing other tokens of the same color, (2) a point having only one of the opponent's tokens on it, or (3) a point with no tokens on it. You may not move a token to a point occupied by two or more of your opponent's tokens.
    A player "captures" an opponent's token by moving on to a point that contains a single opposing token (a "blot"). That token is then moved to the captured zone (down the center of the playing board). Captured tokens can only be moved if the player rolls a value that is a valid move for that token. If a player has a captured token, the only valid first move is to move all captured tokens out of the captured zone. If the player cannot make a move with a captured token, then the player forfeits any remaining dice-moves.
    There are no partial moves: a player must move a token by the exact number of points specified by the value of a die. If you roll a double, you have to use as many of the resulting four dice as you can.
    For most Backgammon games, there is no limit on the number of tokens that may rest on a point (Old English, a 5-token-point-limit game being the only currently supported exception). A point housing 2 or more tokens of the same player is blocked against an opponent, his tokens may not land on that point. When a player cannot move because of blocked points, he loses the move.
    Bearing Off
    Once a player has moved all of his tokens into their inner table, they can start to remove the tokens and add them into their goal. The player can then either move their tokens within their inner table or move them to their goal. When casting a number higher than any point covered, a token from the highest point may bear off instead.
    The first player to move all of his tokens from his inner table to his goal wins the game.