backgammon-board-react

A React component library for rendering a backgammon board. Displays positions, dice, and the doubling cube as a scalable SVG. Fully typed with TypeScript.

Use the online editor:
https://backgammonist.github.io/backgammon-board-react/

Installation

npm install backgammon-board-react
# or
pnpm add backgammon-board-react
# or
yarn add backgammon-board-react

Peer dependencies — make sure these are already in your project:

npm install react react-dom

Supports React 17, 18, and 19.

Quick start

import { Backgammon } from "backgammon-board-react";

export default function App() {
  return (
    <Backgammon
      positions={[
        { position: 1, playerType: "opponent", numberOfCheckers: 2 },
        { position: 6, playerType: "player", numberOfCheckers: 5 },
        { position: 8, playerType: "player", numberOfCheckers: 3 },
        { position: 12, playerType: "opponent", numberOfCheckers: 5 },
        { position: 13, playerType: "player", numberOfCheckers: 5 },
        { position: 17, playerType: "opponent", numberOfCheckers: 3 },
        { position: 19, playerType: "opponent", numberOfCheckers: 5 },
        { position: 24, playerType: "player", numberOfCheckers: 2 },
      ]}
      dice={[3, 5]}
    />
  );
}

Board layout

Positions follow the standard backgammon numbering from the player's perspective:

  13 14 15 16 17 18 | BAR | 19 20 21 22 23 24
  ──────────────────────────────────────────
  12 11 10  9  8  7 |     |  6  5  4  3  2  1

• 1–24 — points on the board
• 0 — player's home/off (checkers borne off by player)
• 25 — opponent's home/off (checkers borne off by opponent)
• "bar" — the centre bar; both players can have checkers here

Props

<Backgammon>

Prop	Type	Default	Description
positions	Position[]	[]	Checker placement on the board
dice	[DieValue, DieValue] | [DieValue] | []	[]	Dice to display (1–6 each)
doublingCube	DoublingCube	—	Doubling cube state
direction	'clockwise' | 'anticlockwise'	'clockwise'	Direction the player moves checkers around the board
preset	'default' | 'warm'	'default'	Built-in colour theme
theme	Theme	—	Custom colour theme (overrides preset)

Position

type Position = {
  playerType:       'player' | 'opponent';
  position:         0 | 1 | 2 | ... | 24 | 25 | 'bar';
  numberOfCheckers: 1 | 2 | ... | 15;
};

DoublingCube

type DoublingCube = {
  value: 2 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 32;
  owner?: "player" | "opponent" | null; // null = centre (unclaimed)
};

Theme

type Theme = {
  backgroundColor: string;
  borderColor: string;
  pointColor: string;
  pointNumberColor: string;
  altPointColor: string;
  playerCheckerColor: string;
  playerCheckerBorderColor: string;
  opponentCheckerColor: string;
  opponentCheckerBorderColor: string;
  doublingCubeColor: string;
};

Examples

Using a built-in theme preset

<Backgammon preset="warm" positions={positions} dice={[6, 6]} />

Available presets: 'default' (light tan, teal points) and 'warm' (burlap, dark red points).

Custom theme

<Backgammon
  positions={positions}
  theme={{
    backgroundColor: "#1a1a2e",
    borderColor: "#16213e",
    pointColor: "#0f3460",
    pointNumberColor: "#e94560",
    altPointColor: "#533483",
    playerCheckerColor: "#e94560",
    playerCheckerBorderColor: "#ffffff",
    opponentCheckerColor: "#ffffff",
    opponentCheckerBorderColor: "#e94560",
    doublingCubeColor: "#e94560",
  }}
/>

Checkers on the bar

<Backgammon
  positions={[
    { position: "bar", playerType: "player", numberOfCheckers: 1 },
    { position: "bar", playerType: "opponent", numberOfCheckers: 2 },
  ]}
/>

Borne-off checkers

Use position 0 for the player and 25 for the opponent:

<Backgammon
  positions={[
    { position: 0, playerType: "player", numberOfCheckers: 3 },
    { position: 25, playerType: "opponent", numberOfCheckers: 1 },
  ]}
/>

Doubling cube

<Backgammon
  positions={positions}
  doublingCube={{ value: 4, owner: "player" }}
/>

Controlled game state

The component is intentionally stateless — it renders whatever you pass as props. Wire it to your own state or game engine:

import { useState } from "react";
import { Backgammon } from "backgammon-board-react";
import type { Position } from "backgammon-board-react";

const INITIAL_POSITIONS: Position[] = [
  { position: 1, playerType: "opponent", numberOfCheckers: 2 },
  { position: 6, playerType: "player", numberOfCheckers: 5 },
  { position: 8, playerType: "player", numberOfCheckers: 3 },
  { position: 12, playerType: "opponent", numberOfCheckers: 5 },
  { position: 13, playerType: "player", numberOfCheckers: 5 },
  { position: 17, playerType: "opponent", numberOfCheckers: 3 },
  { position: 19, playerType: "opponent", numberOfCheckers: 5 },
  { position: 24, playerType: "player", numberOfCheckers: 2 },
];

export default function Game() {
  const [positions, setPositions] = useState(INITIAL_POSITIONS);
  const [dice, setDice] = useState<[number, number]>([1, 1]);

  const roll = () =>
    setDice([Math.ceil(Math.random() * 6), Math.ceil(Math.random() * 6)] as [
      number,
      number,
    ]);

  return (
    <>
      <Backgammon positions={positions} dice={dice} />
      <button onClick={roll}>Roll</button>
    </>
  );
}

Next.js

The package ships with a 'use client' directive banner. You can import it directly inside a Client Component without any additional configuration:

// app/game/page.tsx
"use client";

import { Backgammon } from "backgammon-board-react";

export default function GamePage() {
  return <Backgammon preset="default" />;
}

TypeScript

All types are exported from the package entry point:

import type {
  Position,
  PlayerType,
  DieValue,
  DoublingCube,
  Direction,
  Theme,
} from "backgammon-board-react";

License

MIT