* Guidelines on Moving: In order for a move to be valid, the following conditions must be met:
** The Destination Point must be vacant; or,
** The Destination Point must be occupied by checkers belonging to the player; or,
** The Destination Point must be occupied by only 1 checker piece belonging to the opponent, also called a "blot". In this instance, the player's checker displaces the "blot" from the game board. The "blot" is then placed on the "bar" where it waits to be redeemed by its player by means of an applicable die roll.
* A Limitation on Moving: Having rolled 2 dice thereby gaining 2 moves, a player must spend both moves during his turn. Stated another way: a player cannot choose to spend one move, then discard the other, when it is possible to spend both moves.
* The Dice Roll Decides for the Player? There will be instances late in the game when this would seem to be so. Early in the game, a player may liberally choose which among his checker pieces to move. However, late in the game, the die roll will decide for the player. This is a direct result of the rule that the player must spend all his moves during his turn.
Winning the Game:
About Hitting, and Being Hit: When only one checker piece resides on a Point, it is vulnerable to being hit by the opponent. Hitting is accomplished by landing one's checker piece on a Point that is occupied by only 1 checker piece belonging to the opponent (also called a "Blot"). Once hit, the blot is transferred to the Bar and rests there until it is redeemed by its owner through a valid die roll. The hitting checker then occupies the point. |
Redeeming a Checker from the Bar: A checker piece resting on the bar is like a checker piece occupying an "imaginary" Point # 25. The player must throw an applicable die roll that can be spent to move the "barred" checker. The "barred" checker then re-enters the game at the opponent's home board. To illustrate: On a die roll of "1", the barred checker re-enters at Point 24. On a die roll of "2", it enters are Point 23. And so on.
* Important Note: A player must redeem all his checkers from the Bar before he can move any other checker on the board.
The Home Board: When a player has navigated all his 15 checkers to his Home Board, he can start to remove his checkers from the game board by moving his pieces to an "imaginary" Point # 0. This is known as "Bearing Off". To illustrate: Assuming a roll of "6-4". The roll of "4" allows the player to remove pieces occupying Point 4. The roll of "6" allows removal of pieces occupying Point 6.
* Important Note: When bearing off, the player must spend the exact die roll. This means a roll of 3 only applies to a piece residing on Point 3, not on Point 2 or Point 1. However, this rule is ignored when all remaining checkers need a lower number than the die roll. To illustrate: assume that all remaining checkers occupy Points 1, 2 and 3. In this case, any die roll greater than 3 can be used to remove the remaining checkers, starting with those from the farther Points. Naturally, a roll of 1, 2 or 3 can only be used to remove checkers from Point 1, 2 or 3 respectively.
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