Roll doubles, watch their face: video backgammon

Video backgammon is Rovian’s online backgammon mode, where two players share one board and see each other on camera. Each side has 15 checkers, Rovian’s server rolls the dice and the whole game runs on a shared 10-minute clock. It is a friendly mode: your chess rating is unaffected and there is no doubling cube. All you need is to be signed in.

In a Turkish coffeehouse, half of backgammon is played on the board and half across the table. An eyebrow goes up the moment the dice land, both players laugh at a lucky six-five, and whoever gets gammoned can’t hide it. Online backgammon usually loses that second half, leaving a username and spinning dice. We wanted to bring it back.

How does a video backgammon game start?

You can open the lobby with Backgammon selected; the link adds Backgammon to your chosen modes automatically. If it is your only selection, the search button reads “Play backgammon” and the time shows “Shared 10:00”. If other modes are selected too, the game is drawn from the modes you and your opponent have in common.

Once an opponent is found, the table opens and a “Ready for backgammon?” card appears right on top of the board. When you both press “I’m ready”, the game and the video chat start together. You have 30 seconds; if both players aren’t ready, the game doesn’t start. Until then, your opponent’s video stays blurred.

You can switch your camera or microphone off at any time and keep playing. “Hide video” hides your opponent’s picture, and “Report” and “Block” are there whenever you need them. Our report and block guide explains what those buttons do.

What are the rules of online backgammon?

Backgammon at Rovian follows the classic rules. You pick a checker and move it to one of the highlighted targets; the board never offers a move the rules don’t allow.

1. Each player has 15 checkers. The goal is to bring them all home and bear them off; the first to finish wins.

2. One opening die is rolled for each player. The higher roll starts and uses both dice; a tie is rolled again.

3. Doubles are played four times. Use both dice whenever possible; if only one can be used, you must use the higher playable die.

4. Landing on a point with a single opposing checker hits it. Points with two or more opposing checkers are blocked. A checker on the bar must enter before anything else moves.

5. You can bear off once all your checkers are home. A higher die can bear off your farthest checker if none are farther away. If you have no legal move, the turn passes automatically.

Rovian’s server rolls the dice and you both see the same result. Beside the board you can track how many checkers you have borne off, how many are on the bar and your remaining pip count.

Is there a gammon in video backgammon?

Yes. If you win before your opponent has borne off a single checker, the result card says “Gammon!”. If they also still have a checker on the bar or in your home board, it says “Backgammon!”. In Turkish this is called mars, and here it isn’t a figure of speech; it can really happen on the board.

Two details matter. A gammon only shows when the game ends with all 15 checkers borne off; if time runs out, someone resigns or a connection drops, the result won’t show one. And since this is a single, unrated game, a gammon brings no extra points. All it brings is the look on the face at the other end of the camera.

What happens when time runs out?

Players don’t have separate clocks; one shared 10-minute clock covers the whole game. If neither player has borne off all 15 checkers when it reaches zero, the game is a draw.

It wasn’t always 10 minutes. Backgammon opened in early September with a shared 2 minutes. In live testing, games ended in a draw after four or five turns, long before anyone could finish; a 15-checker game simply doesn’t fit in that time. So we raised it to 10 minutes.

If you don’t want to wait, “Resign” hands the game to your opponent. If your connection drops, you have 20 seconds to come back; otherwise the game goes to your opponent. When it’s over, choose “Request rematch” or “New opponent”.

What changed on the board on 12 October?

We redrew the backgammon board: a walnut frame, two felt halves set into it, ivory and terracotta inlaid points, a brass-hinged middle bar and bear-off trays carved into the frame. The checkers are thicker too. The ready card now sits right on top of the board; before, it could end up off-screen on phones, and some players couldn’t find it.

The dice now land inside the board. Each throw drops into the right half of the player who rolled, bounces three times and settles. Just like at a real table, your dice stop on the right and your opponent’s on the left. Used dice fade, doubles show four dice, and the opening roll puts one die in each half.

We added sound as well: dice being shaken, dice hitting the board, a checker settling, a hit and a checker borne off. The dice sound lands on the same beats as the animation. Turn it all off with the “Backgammon sounds” button on the dice tray; your choice is remembered.

The dice are waiting

Want to roll dice on a chessboard too? Our game modes guide covers Dice Chess. You can see every game on the modes page, and if building an army by drawing cards sounds fun, read our Ordu 21 guide.

Ready? Choose Backgammon and make the first roll. Open your camera. Make your move.