Backgammon Setup: How to Set Up the Board
Setting up a backgammon board takes under a minute once you see the pattern: 2 + 5 + 3 + 5 checkers, mirrored for both players. This guide explains the board's anatomy, exactly where all thirty checkers start, and the small conventions — like which direction to play — that boards and clubs vary on.
The Anatomy of the Board
A backgammon board has 24 points — the long, alternating-colour triangles — arranged in four quadrants of six points each:
- Your home board (also called the inner board): points 1–6, the quadrant your checkers must reach before bearing off.
- Your outer board: points 7–12.
- Your opponent's outer board: points 13–18 (from your numbering).
- Your opponent's home board: points 19–24 — where your two rearmost checkers begin, and where you re-enter after being hit.
The raised divider across the middle is the bar — hit checkers wait there. Alongside the board you'll usually find a doubling cube and, on quality boards, a rail or tray where borne-off checkers collect.
Point Numbering: The Part That Confuses Everyone
Here is the key insight: each player numbers the points from their own perspective. Your 1-point is the point furthest along your route, in your own home board; your 24-point is where your two rearmost checkers start — and your 24-point is your opponent's 1-point. There is no absolute numbering printed on the board; the numbers describe each player's journey. Every checker travels from its 24-point down toward its 1-point, then off.
The Starting Position
Each player places fifteen checkers in four groups. From your own perspective:
| Point | Checkers | Common name | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-point | 2 | The back checkers (runners) | Deep in enemy territory; they must run the whole board or anchor and wait. |
| 13-point | 5 | The midpoint | Your supply line — a landing station for checkers heading home. |
| 8-point | 3 | The 8-point | Builder depot just outside your home board. |
| 6-point | 5 | The 6-point | Your strongest starting asset — already a made point on your home board's edge. |
Your opponent's checkers mirror yours exactly: their two back checkers sit on your 1-point (their 24), their midpoint stack faces yours, and so on. When the board is set up correctly it is perfectly symmetric — if it isn't, something is misplaced.
A memorable check: on each half of the board, every player has exactly two stacks, and the pattern reads 2-5-3-5 along each player's route. Total: 15 checkers each, 30 on the board, none in reserve.
Direction of Play
Which way the checkers flow is a convention, not a rule. Most commonly, play runs so that each player's home board is on the side nearer the light source or the door — in practice, agree (or just note) where the home boards are before placing checkers. Two things are fixed:
- The two players always move in opposite directions around the horseshoe.
- Each player bears off from their own home board — the two home boards face each other on the same end of the board.
Left-handed and right-handed setups (home board on the right vs the left) are both legitimate; the mirror image changes nothing about the game. Online this is standardised for you: your home board is always drawn at the bottom, your checkers always travel the same visual path, and the starting position is placed automatically every game.
Common Setup Mistakes
- Swapping the 5-stacks. Putting five checkers on the 8-point and three on the 6-point (instead of 3 and 5) is the classic error. Remember: the bigger stack sits closer to home — 5 on the 6-point, 3 on the 8-point.
- Back checkers in the wrong home board. Your two runners start on your 24-point — the far corner of your route, inside your opponent's home board — not in your own.
- Both players' checkers moving the same direction. If the two sets of checkers aren't mirror images, one player has been set up backwards.
- Cube left askew. Before the first roll, the doubling cube belongs centred (on the bar or midway along the frame) showing 64 — meaning no one has doubled and the game is worth one point.
Prefer to see it live? Our interactive board setup visualizer shows the full starting position on a real board — tap any stack of checkers and it explains why those checkers begin exactly there.
A 30-Second Setup Routine
- Decide where each player's home board is (nearest-right quadrant is the most common convention).
- Place your 5-stacks first: five on your 6-point, five on your 13-point (midpoint).
- Add three on your 8-point, then two on your 24-point.
- Have your opponent mirror you — then glance across the board: perfect symmetry means you're done.
- Centre the doubling cube at 64, roll one die each for the opening, and play.
From Setup to First Move
With the board set, the game begins with the opening roll — covered step by step in How to Play Backgammon. If you want the exact letter of the law on movement, hitting and bearing off, keep the complete rules reference handy. Or skip the furniture entirely and play in your browser, where the board sets itself up and every game starts in three seconds.