When you roll doubles in backgammon you play the number four times instead of twice. So a roll of double four gives you four separate moves of four points each, which you can spread across one, two, three, or four different checkers. Doubles are powerful because they let you cover more ground, build blocking points quickly, or escape trapped checkers in a single turn. As with any roll, you must play as many of the four moves as you legally can, and you lose any that are impossible. Note that this dice-doubles is different from the doubling cube used in match play.