An important element to understand in order to follow a game and read certain backgammon content is move notation. On Backgammon Circle, the notation of each move is shown on the panel to the right of the board.
Standard move notation indicates:
- The colour of the player who made the move
- The dice roll, each die separated by a dash
- The two moves, separated by a comma. For each move, the starting point and the destination are separated by the «/» symbol
If a diagram shows the board after the move (as here), the notation is shown in parentheses.
In our case, the notation is therefore: (White 3-3 6/3[2], 8/5[2]).
In this situation, White rolled 3-3 and moved four checkers 3 spaces: the notation indicates two checkers moved from point 6 to point 3, and two other checkers from point 8 to point 5.
Note: to make things easier to understand, on Backgammon Circle moves are always noted from your perspective of the board, including for opponent moves. For example, in this situation your opponent will see the notation «White 3-3 19/22[2], 17/20[2]». It's important to mention that this isn't always the case: you may find books or articles that note each move from the perspective of the player making the move.