I’m not sure what it is, but a lot of people wanting to know how to play backgammon are always confused by the triangles on the board.  If that’s you, it’s probably the large size and multi-colors that lead you to think something is going on more than meets the eye.  But, the truth is, those long backgammon triangles are called points and are simply the spaces you move your checkers around the board on.  You can imagine them as squares on a checker board except, in backgammon, you can move on all the squares.

If you’re wondering how to play backgammon, you might also be confused by the board setup.  Since the backgammon board is broken into four sections with a bar dividing into two halves, it can once again look like more is going on than actually is.  The truth is you should look at the board as one continual board.  Don’t worry about the sections or the bar, the bar is just a resting point for checkers and the doubling die.  In Backgammon, you will simply start on one half of the board on one section and your opponent will start on the same half of the board, but the opposite section.  Then, by rolling the dice and moving along the points, you will try to get to your opponents side and then off before he gets to your side and off.  So if you’re wondering how to play backgammon, that’s it.  There’s a bit more to learn about stealing (hitting) your opponents pieces and some other technical parts, but the basics of how to play backgammon are that easy.