To start the game, each player throws a single die. This determines which player goes first and the numbers to be played. If equal numbers come up, then both players roll again until they get different numbers. The player who got the higher number now moves his checkers according to the numbers showing on both dice.    After the first roll, the players throw two dice and alternate turns.
   The value of the dice indicates how many points, or pips, the player is to move his checkers. The checkers are always moved forward, to a lower-numbered point. A point occupied by a single checker of either color is called a blot. If an opposing checker lands on a blot, the blot is hit and placed on the bar. The following rules apply:

   A checker may be moved only to an open point, one that is not occupied by two or more opposing checkers.

   Any time a player has one or more checkers on the bar, his first obligation is to enter those checkers into the opposite home board. A checker is entered by moving it to an open point corresponding to one of the numbers on the rolled dice.

   The numbers on the two dice represent separate moves. For example, if a player rolls 6 and 5, he may move one checker six spaces to an open point and another checker five spaces to an open point, or he may move a single checker over a total of eleven spaces to an open point, but only if the intermediate point (either six or five spaces from the starting point) is also open.

   A player who rolls doubles plays the numbers shown on the dice twice. A roll of 6 and 6 means that the player can use six four times, and he may move any combination of checkers he feels appropriate to complete this requirement.

   A player must use both numbers of a roll if this is legally possible (or all four numbers of a double). When only one number can be played, the player must play that number. Or if either number can be played but not both, the player must play the bigger one. When neither number can be used, the player loses his turn. In the case of doubles, when all four numbers cannot be played, the player must play as many numbers as he can.

   The Jacoby rule is used in money games. It states that a gammon or backgammon may not be scored as such, unless the cube has been offered and accepted. The purpose is to speed up play by eliminating long not doubled games. The Jacoby rule is never used in match play.

   The Crawford rule tells that if you are playing an n-point match and your opponent is ahead of you and he gets to n-1 points you are not allowed to use the doubling cube in the next game to come. The Crawford rule is universally used in backgammon match play.