Setting up the Backgammon Board

Each side has five checkers on his 6-point, three checkers on his 8-point, five checkers on his 13-point and two checkers on his 24-point. A player`s 6-point and 8-point will always be on his near side of the board and his 13 and 24 points will always be on the far side. From the point of view of the opposing side the point numbers are reversed. Your 13-point is your opponent`s 12-point, your 3-point his 22-point, etc.

The board will always appear as a mirror image for the opponent. One players` 1-point will be to his left, while the other`s will be to his right. One player moves anti-clockwise and the other clockwise as indicated in the diagram The board can be set up either way round so this set up is also correct:

The points are not actually numbered on backgammon boards. 3 The doubling cube starts in the centre as indicated, set to the value of 64 (or 1).

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