How to Play

This guide explains the JustGammon interface. If you are new to backgammon itself, read Backgammon Rules as well.

Before the game

Choose a mode from the home screen. You can enter online matchmaking, create or join a private game, play against a bot, or spectate. See Game Modes for details.

White and Black move in opposite directions. The board is oriented for your role, and JustGammon announces or displays whose turn it is.

Roll the dice

When it is your turn and the dice have not yet been rolled, use the on-screen Roll Dice button or click or tap any board point to roll.

With VoiceOver, TalkBack, or Jieshuo Plus, explore a board point with your finger, then double-tap to activate it and roll. Touching a point to hear its label does not roll the dice. Once the dice have been rolled, activating points selects checkers or destinations instead.

Keyboard users can press:

• R to roll
• D to roll if dice are waiting, or announce the current dice after they have been rolled

You can enable More → Settings → Gameplay → Auto-roll dice if you do not want to trigger each roll manually.

When doubles are rolled, the value is available four times.

Screen-reader users can read the first die at Left upper edge and the second at Left lower edge, along the outside left edge of the board. Each label includes the die’s value and usage status. See Reading the dice for details, including doubles.

Move checkers

With a mouse or touch screen:

1. Select a checker.
2. Select a highlighted legal destination.
3. Continue making legal moves with the available dice.

JustGammon only accepts moves allowed by the board position and available dice.

Move with the keyboard

1. Press Z to focus the board.
2. Use the Arrow keys to position the virtual cursor.
3. Press Enter, Space, or M to select a checker.
4. Move to a legal destination and activate it.
5. Press Escape to clear the current selection.

The number keys 1–6 move the cursor by several steps at once. Hold Shift to move in the reverse direction. See Keyboard Shortcuts for all controls.

Screen-reader users can also explore the board by touch or navigate it like a standard web page. See Accessibility for all supported interaction approaches.

Re-enter from the bar

If one of your checkers has been hit, it is placed on the bar. You must re-enter all checkers from the bar before moving any other checker.

Click or tap a legal entry point corresponding to an available die to re-enter a checker. You do not need to select the checker on the bar first; JustGammon selects it automatically. With VoiceOver, TalkBack, or Jieshuo Plus, explore the entry point and double-tap to activate it. Entry points occupied by two or more opposing checkers are blocked.

Bear off

When all your remaining checkers are in your home board, you can begin bearing them off.

Select a checker that can legally bear off. If all its available moves are bear-off moves, JustGammon removes it automatically when you activate its point. If it can also move to another board point, it remains selected: activate the Lower bear-off tray at the bottom right of the board to remove it, or choose a legal board destination to move it instead. With VoiceOver, TalkBack, or Jieshuo Plus, double-tap to activate the checker point and, when needed, the tray.

Keyboard users can position the virtual cursor on a checker and press Delete. Standard oversize-die rules apply when there is no checker on the exact point.

Follow the game

The game screen provides:

• Score for the current match
• Turn timers and remaining game time
• History for game events and chat
• Current-game statistics, including pip count, dice average, hits, vulnerable checkers, and movement efficiency
• Chat with the other player and spectators

Open More for history, settings, help, bug reporting, messages, contact support, and game resynchronization.

Current-game statistics describe the active board and are separate from Rating JG, accumulated player statistics, and community totals. See Rating, Statistics & Leaderboard for those persistent and community-wide figures.

Chat and spectators

Open Chat to exchange messages and reactions with the players and spectators in the same game. Messages identify the sender as White, Black, or Spectator. Consecutive messages from the same person share a heading when sent within two minutes of each other; screen-reader users still receive the sender’s name for each message.

When spectators are present, a button beside Chat opens the spectator list. It shows an avatar when one person is watching, or an eye icon and a count when there are several. The list shows the spectators’ names, avatars, and flags. Close it with its Close button, Escape, or by clicking or tapping outside it. The board remains available while the list is open.

Spectator chat bubbles and reactions appear in a separate area beside Chat. Text bubbles include the sender’s name and disappear after about five seconds; older bubbles are removed when the stack no longer fits. Their visibility follows your Chat bubbles and Reaction animations preferences. Screen-reader announcements identify spectator messages by name and role.

Mute spectator chat

If you are playing, use Mute spectator chat in the Chat header to hide messages and reactions from all spectators. The button appears when spectators are present or their messages are already in the chat. It is not available when you are spectating.

Muting hides spectator messages from your chat panel and stops new spectator bubbles, message sounds, screen-reader announcements, unread-message counts, and new Chat history entries. It does not mute the other player, remove spectators, or prevent them from sending messages. Other participants keep their own chat preferences. Spectator arrival and departure announcements continue.

Select the same button again to show spectator chat. Messages retained in the chat become visible again, including those received while muted. The choice is remembered on the current browser or device for later games and does not synchronize with your account on other devices.

Game timers and time negotiation

Each player normally has 1:00 per move and a separate pool of 2:00 extra time. The per-move timer is used first. If it expires, the active player’s extra time begins to run and JustGammon displays a warning. Any extra time left is kept for that player’s later moves.

After both players are present, the human player can choose or propose a different time preset before the game timer starts. Open the time dialog in any of these ways:

• Click or tap the top edge of the board, where the turn timer bar is displayed.
• Press Enter or Space when the top edge itself has keyboard focus.
• Select the stopwatch button below the turn timer.
• Open More → Change game time.
• Press Shift+T while the board has keyboard focus.

The available presets are:

Preset	Per move	Extra time per player
Rapid	0:30	1:00
Standard (default)	1:00	2:00
Relaxed	2:00	10:00
No pressure	5:00	30:00

In a game between two people, selecting a preset sends the proposal and closes the dialog. The other player can accept it, decline it, or propose another preset. Each player can send one proposal; if the proposals differ, either player can accept the other player’s choice. The time changes only when both players agree, and both receive a confirmation. Without an agreement, the Standard preset remains in effect.

In a game against a bot, the bot accepts the selected preset automatically. Time changes are not available in spectator mode. Once the game timer has started, Change game time is removed from More. Clicking or tapping the top edge of the board, or pressing Shift+T, then reports that the time can no longer be changed and identifies the preset in use.

Checking for a waiting player

While the board has keyboard focus, press L to check whether another player is waiting for a public opponent. You can also click or tap the bottom edge of the board, or activate it with your screen reader. Enter or Space activates the check when that edge has keyboard focus. The edge keeps its usual appearance and Bottom edge label; there is no separate visible button.

The check requests the current waiting-game information and displays a toast:

• If someone is waiting, a message such as Andra is waiting for an opponent. appears with the same three-beep sound as automatic alerts, when interface sounds are enabled.
• Otherwise, it reports No player is waiting for an opponent. Your own waiting game is excluded.
• If the request fails, it reports that waiting players could not be checked and asks you to try again.

These toasts use JustGammon’s usual screen-reader announcement behavior. Manual checks remain available with automatic Available-player alerts disabled and can report the same player each time you ask. They do not add messages to history or change automatic-alert deduplication. Holding L or activating the control repeatedly while a check is in progress does not start overlapping requests.

The check does not change board selection, join a game, or reserve the waiting player. Someone else may join before you act on the result. Finish or leave your current game before using Play Game to enter public matchmaking.

Finish the match

A normal win scores 1 point, a gammon scores 2, and a backgammon scores 3. The match ends when a player reaches the 3-point target.

If neither player has reached the target, both players can agree to continue with the next game. The board resets while the match score is retained.

Before active play begins, and while spectating, the game screen offers Leave. Once you are an active player and the game timer is running, it offers Resign instead. The resign dialog lets you concede the current game and remain for the match, or concede and leave the match. Running out of time can also end a game and award it to the opponent. Use these commands deliberately.

When a game is counted

For access and game-balance purposes, one game means one individual backgammon game—not the full 3-point match. A rematch is a new game.

A game is consumed only after both players complete their first move. If either player leaves before that point, no game is consumed. After both first moves are complete, the game remains consumed even if it later ends through resignation, timeout, disconnect, or another reason.

If Premium expires during an active game, you can finish that game. Subscription access is checked again when you start a new game.

See Plans and Pricing and Purchases and Billing for full details.

Connection recovery

If your connection is interrupted, JustGammon attempts to restore and synchronize the game. If necessary:

1. Return to the home screen.
2. Select Rejoin Game or Continue.
3. In the game, open More → Game resynchronization if the displayed state appears out of date.