Backgammon is a game played by two people. Backgammon is played on a special Backgammon board, that consists of twenty four “points”. Each point is represented on the backgammon board by a small triangle, and each alternating triangle is a different colour, i.e. there are twelve white “points and twelve black “points”. The difference in colour plays no major part in backgammon, however it makes the counting of points easier, whilst playing backgammon.

The twenty four “points” of the backgammon board are broken up into four sections, consisting of six “points” each. The 4 sections are then separated into two different parts, separated by the middle bar of the backgammon table. Each section of each part of the backgammon board represents a different thing to each player of a single game of backgammon. The two sections closest to a player when he is sitting, represent the “outer board” and the “home board” of that player. These sections are separated by the bar.

Each Player has 15 of his own backgammon pieces on the board at the start. The initial layout is represented in the picture opposite of the Backgammon board. Each player also has his own set of dice, normally coloured according to the colour of his backgammon pieces. There is also a doubling dice with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 Printed on it’s faces, this dice is used to display the stakes of the current backgammon game.

In the picture below, you will see the direction in which the white player moves his backgammon pieces. The other colour on the board (In this case it is red) moves in the opposite direction.