Skillgammon is a more strategic, skill-oriented version of backgammon. You will be playing red, and a computer-controlled opponent will be playing white. Instead of rolling dice, you will be selecting from up to five different possible dice rolls. The main Object of the game is to remove your red pieces from the board before your computer-controlled opponent removes the white pieces.

At the beginning of your turn, chose one of the dice rolls displayed in the "Available Rolls" box. When there is only one roll left in this box, five more rolls will appear in the "Coming Next" box. After that final roll is used, these five rolls will move into the "Available Rolls" box and become available to you and the computer-controlled player. Scoring is based on three things: pips, bearing off, and time.

Try to form as many locks as possible. This will limit your opponent's choices. The most valuable place to form blocks are in your home court. Avoid leaving blots, especially the closer they get to your home court, where being knocked off will lose you a lot of pips. Look ahead to the other available rolls. Sometimes you can make moves which would be too risky in regular backgammon, but which are safe in Skillgammon because no upcoming roll will result in your being knocked to the bar. If you find yourself well behind, try to keep pieces in your opponent's home court as long as possible, in order to keep open as long as possible the possibility of knocking your opponent's pieces to the bar.