If you play backgammon at home, you might not have ever heard of the doubling cube.  The doubling cube isn’t commonly used for home play because it’s a betting cube.  It’s a cube, like a die, that has the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 written on its sides.  These numbers indicated the increase of betting by the power of two and it is used in backgammon a similar way to how raising and calling a bet is used in poker.

For any players considering play backgammon competitively, at real money tables, it is important to become comfortable with the doubling cube. Before you start to a backgammon game, place the doubling cube on the center bar.  It should initially show the 64 facing up.  During the game, if you decide to double the betting, before your turn, simply tell your opponent and take the doubling cube to your side, facing the two up.  Your opponent can then approve and stay in the game, disapprove and resign the game, or raise the bet by another power.  The original player, you in this case, would retain the die but increase the bet.  At that point, if you choose to stay in the game, you can choose to increase the bet once more.  There can be 3 betting increases in on turn.  It’s also good to know that while the dice only goes to 64, you can increase bets as much as you like beyond that; most games just never do.

There all things in backgammon, there are variants of ways to play the doubling cube.  But if you want to play backgammon competitively, you really need to get comfortable with the basics.

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