Bearing off in the Backgammon Game

admin · Site Admin Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 862

The objective of the backgammon board game is to be the first player able to remove all their checkers from the board, and it is this final stage of the game we refer to when speaking of bearing off in the backgammon game. As with all the other moves in the game, bearing off in the backgammon game is accomplished in response to the outcome of a dice throw.

Bearing off in the backgammon game can only commence when a player has managed to move all of their fifteen checkers into their home area of the backgammon board. To move off a checker, the player needs to throw a number on the dice equal to the point on where a particular checker is situated. For example, if a players needs to remove checkers from their fourth and fifth points they need to roll a five and four on the dice. In the event that there is no checker on a point that matches the dice roll, for instance if there are no checkers on the fourth and fifth points in the above example, the player needs to move a checker on a higher-numbered point.

If during the course of bearing off in the backgammon game, one of the checkers waiting to be born off is hit, the player needs to start the process again and try and bring the hit checker back to the home area of the board and then bear it off.