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The premier source for backgammon books, lessons & blog problems.

“Reading every word, slowly studying each diagram and following your analysis was invaluable to strengthening not only my checker play but my understanding of fundamental backgammon.”

An Introduction to Backgammon Notation

Mar 5, 2015 | Backgammon Tips for Beginners, Learning Backgammon

Backgammon notation is a way of describing dice rolls and moves on a backgammon board. Prior to 1976, notation wasn’t standardized; backgammon writers would invent their own notation systems, and readers would have to learn a new notation system when they picked up a new book. In 1976, Paul Magriel published his classic book Backgammon, using a notation system that was simple and appealing. Almost overnight, this system became a de facto standard, and almost every book published since then has used it. Let’s see how it works.

We’ll start by setting up a backgammon board with Black on move, and numbering the points from 1 to 24.

Black to Play 4-3

Black is moving counter-clockwise around the board, from higher-numbered points (in the upper-right quadrant) to lower-numbered points (in the lower-right quadrant). To describe a black move, we give the move number, the dice roll, and the starting and ending points of the checker play. Suppose Black starts the game by throwing 4-3, and elects to play the three with one of his back men, while using the four to move a man off his midpoint. We would notate this play as follows:

1) 43: 24/21 13/9

The notation shows that on his first move, Black’s roll was 4-3, and he played a checker from the 24-point to the 21-point, and another checker from the 13-point to the 9-point. The resulting position would look like this:


Black has played 4-3
Congratulations! You’ve now mastered the basic idea of backgammon notation.

Now let’s look at a few of the finer points of the notation system. When we hit a checker, we use an ‘*’ to represent a hit. And if a checker has been hit and is now entering from the bar, we say ‘Bar/’ and then the number of the point where the checker entered.


Black to Play 4-2
In this position, White started the game and rolled a 3-2, splitting his back men with the three and bringing down a checker with the two. If Black now rolls a 4-2, he might decide to make his 4-point, hitting White’s checker. In that case, we would write

2) 42: 8/4* 6/4

If you begin your turn with a checker on the bar and roll an entering number, use ‘Bar’ as the starting point.


Black to Play 4-1
If Black rolls a 4-1 in this position and decides to enter and hit, we would write

2) 41: Bar/21/20*

 

There are just a couple of more rules to learn. When you bear off a checker, write ‘off’ as the destination point. If you roll a double and want to move multiple checkers to the same point, use parentheses to show how many checkers are moving.

Congratulations! You’ve now mastered standard backgammon notation.

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