Learn About Bearing Off in Backgammon

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

Bearing off in backgammon is the last stage of the backgammon game. Bearing off simply means removing your checkers from the board. While this may sound easy, you need to have successfully completed a series of other steps in the game first before you're ready to bear off.

Backgammon can be seen as a race between two players. Each player starts the game with 15 checkers which are arranged in three rows on the board. The object of the game is to move each checker around the board toward a home board area before bearing off in backgammon.

When a player wishes to move a checker, he must toss two dice. The pip count on the dice indicate the number of spaces checkers can be moved on the board. One checker can be moved for one die or one checker for the total pip count on both dice. For example, if a player rolls a six and a two, he can move one checker two spaces and a second checker six spaces. Alternatively, he can move one checker eight spaces. Bearing off in backgammon is made more difficult by the fact that both players are aiming to hit each other's checkers. Once hit, a checker must be placed on the bar separating the two halves of the board and must be played back into the game before any other checker can be moved.

When a player is ready to start bearing off in backgammon, he must toss the dice and move his checkers the required number of spaces. Bearing off is essentially the last stage of the game and can lead to a highly exciting finish. The first player to bear all his checkers off the board successfully wins the game.