Like backgammon, players move pieces around a board from their starting position. Once all pieces are in the home quadrant, they may be removed. The first player to remove all pieces wins. The standard rules of backgammon are available on many sites and are not repeated here.

The initial setup for the pieces in quadgammon is analogous to the intial setup in backgammon:

In backgammon, there is only one opponent. In quadgammon, each player confronts all three opponents. For example, the first and last quarter of red's moves directly oppose green's moves. The second quarter of red's moves oppose the blue while the third quarter oppose yellow. This makes for some interesting strategies as players may adjust tactics to help or hinder particular opponents at different times during a game or tournament. In tournament rules, no talking or signalling is allowed among the players.

While the rules are simple, good tactics may not be so easy, and the presence of multiple opponents makes for some new kinds of strategies. Click on either of the above playing boards for a link to a full resolution board that is easy to print out and use for play. There is also a variation of backgammon called trigammon where three people can play at once. Good luck and have fun!