International Backgammon Official Rules
For playing backgammon professionally and be able to compete in it internationally, the following backgammon official rules should be observed.
For backgammon official rule number 1: backgammon should be played by only two players. Casual backgammon games are also played by two players, but often there are "help" players who may inject ideas now and then to a main player. But internationally, a backgammon official rule strictly sticks to two players only.
Second backgammon official rule is that thirty checker chips are played by two players; each player is to deal with 15 checker chips of one color (white or black). This backgammon official rule also requires an official backgammon board with 4 quadrants of 6 triangular points or spaces each.
Third backgammon official rule is that points for entering or throwing off should be numbered one to six on both board sides. This means a quadrant of the board is to be used for this purpose. Then, moving the checker chips should follow a particular direction. A backgammon official rule is that play ought to be oriented from the opponent's inner board to the opponent's outer board, and a player's outer board to a player's inner board, which is the home board. This directional rule is the fourth backgammon official rule.
The fifth backgammon official rule is that the dice should determine how many points a particular checker piece or chip or "man" should cover per round of play. Online backgammon may sometimes offer 5 moves for checker piece to choose from. But in professional play, a backgammon official rule strictly points out that any checker piece movement should be decided by a dice cast result. The backgammon official rule further says that the dice should be shaken inside a dice cup before being thrown for a result.
The sixth backgammon official rule is that a dice match (the opening throw) should be done by the 2 players before anything could start. The player with the highest dice result gets to decide where to sit, what checker chip color to use, what dice to use, and other backgammon game detail. This backgammon official rule sets everything in the game, and then the player with the highest dice result may choose to have the first move using the same dice result, or have another dice cast.
In a professional play, every backgammon game procedure is governed by a specific backgammon official rule. Such is especially observed in international bouts.