Backgammon on Morningside Heights.

Columbia's first backgammon club. Open events, free lessons, and a board waiting for you whether you've played for years or never touched one.

Your opening roll?

A 5,000-year-old game, open to everyone.

Backgammon is part luck, mostly skill, and endlessly social. We started this club because there was nowhere on campus to play, so now there is.

Casual play

Come to any event, grab a board, play whoever's free. No membership, no pressure, no experience needed.

Lessons

New to the game? We'll teach you the rules in 15 minutes, then help you get good: openings, the doubling cube, and strategy.

Tournaments

Open tournaments through the year and, down the line, matches against other universities.

Upcoming events

Every event is free and open to everyone. Boards are provided, just show up.

Coming soon

Our first event is being planned now. Fill out the interest form and you'll hear the date before anyone else.

Fill out the interest form

Never played? Here's the idea.

The full rules take one session to learn. This is the whole game in four steps.

  1. Race your checkers home

    Each player has 15 checkers. You move them around the board in opposite directions toward your own home corner.

  2. Roll and move

    Roll two dice and move checkers by those numbers. Roll doubles and you move each number twice.

  3. Hit and block

    Land on a lone opposing checker and it's sent back to the start. Stack two or more on a point and it's safe from attack.

  4. Bear off first

    Once all your checkers are home, start taking them off the board. First to clear all 15 wins.

Pull up a chair.

Fill out our interest form to hear about upcoming events, lessons and tournaments. Everyone is welcome.

Founders

Rakan PharaonCo-founder, SEAS '30

Süleyman TahaCo-founder, SEAS '30