The board is divided into four quadrants: The player's home board and outer board, and the opponent's home board (right) and outerboard (left).
There are 24 triangles on the backgammon board, 1 being the triangle to the player's right, and counting upwards in a counterclockwise direction.
Each player will set up 15 checkers on the board. 2 checkers on their 24th point, 3 checkers on the 8th point, 5 checkers on the 13th point, and 5 more on the 16th point.
Each player will roll a die to determine who goes first.
After the first turn, either player can double the stakes as they like.