Bearing off in backgammon: how to take your checkers off fast and safely

You may start to bear off once all 15 of your checkers are in your home board, your 1- to 6-points. From then on, each die does one of three things:

• It bears off a checker from the matching point: a 4 takes a checker off your 4-point.
• It moves a checker inside your home board, like any other move. You must use your dice if you can, but you're never obliged to bear off rather than move.
• It bears off from your highest point when the number is higher than any point you occupy: with a 6 and nothing above your 4-point, a checker comes off your 4-point. If a checker stands on a higher point, the number has to be played as a move inside the board.

If one of your checkers is hit during the bear-off, it must enter from the bar and come all the way home before you can bear off again. The full rules, with examples, are in bearing off in our rules guide.

Two facts frame the whole phase. You take off at most two checkers per roll, four with a double, so 15 checkers need at least 8 rolls without doubles. And the first player to finish wins: if the loser hasn't borne off a single checker by then, it's a gammon, worth two points (how games are scored).

The bear-off starts before your last checker comes home. In a race, every pip spent moving checkers deeper than they need to go is a pip that won't take a checker off later.

• Bring checkers in on your highest home points. A checker that crosses into your home board on your 6- or 5-point is usually better placed than one moved down to your 2- or 1-point: it hasn't wasted pips, and a big number will bear it off later.
• Spread them out. Aim for checkers on several points rather than piles on one or two. Gaps and stacks are where wastage comes from, as the table further down shows.
• Usually, use big numbers to bring outside checkers in, and small numbers to fill the empty points of your home board, rather than the other way around. Until your last checker is home, you can't take any off.

Your pip count tells you who leads the race; the shape of your board decides how many of those pips you'll actually use. For the cube in a race, see cube decisions in a race.

Once contact is over and nothing can be hit any more, the bear-off is pure efficiency: take your checkers off in as few rolls as possible. Two rules of thumb cover most rolls.

1. Take a checker off whenever you can

A checker borne off is a checker you'll never roll for again. When a number can either bear a checker off or move one down, bearing off is usually right, and when both numbers can bear off, take two.

2. When a number can't bear off, fill a gap

If a die can't take a checker off, use it to move a checker onto an empty or thin point, so that more numbers bear off next turn. Avoid moving checkers down onto points that are already full: every extra checker on a point is one more number it takes to clear it.

At the very end, where the last checkers stand matters as much as how many pips are left: two checkers on your 4- and 2-points come off in one roll 23 times out of 36, two on your 3-point only 17 times, for the same 6 pips (see bear-off odds).

Two positions with the same pip count don't bear off at the same speed. The table below takes five positions of 15 checkers, all exactly 60 pips, and gives the average number of rolls each one needs to bear off with the fastest play.

The pip count alone would suggest a little over 7 rolls: 60 pips divided by the 8⅙ pips of an average roll (the 36 rolls) is about 7.3. Even the smoothest positions take about 8.5, because no bear-off uses every pip: a 6 that takes a checker off your 4-point wastes 2 of them. Piling all 15 checkers on one point costs almost a full roll more than spreading them, and the worst shape here, a heavy 6-point with the rest dumped on the 1-point, more than a roll.

That's wastage: pips your rolls spend without making progress. It's why the race rules of thumb ask you to add a few pips for gaps and stacks, and why a smooth, spread-out home board is the goal of every bear-in.

Everything changes when your opponent still has checkers in your home board, usually an anchor, or on the bar. Now a single blot can be hit, sent to the bar and forced to come all the way around again, which can turn a won game into a lost one. Speed comes second: the priority is to avoid leaving shots.

Clear your points from the back

As a rule, empty your highest point first, then the next one down. Checkers left behind on a high point are the ones big numbers later force you to break up one at a time. The safest bear-off usually clears the 6-point, then the 5-point, keeping the lower points as landing spots. It's a guideline, not a law: the exact position can favor clearing another point.

Favor even numbers of checkers on your highest points

An odd number on your highest point is a classic trap, though only a rule of thumb: when a big roll makes you take checkers off it, one is left alone. The table shows how much it matters with your opponent anchored on your 1-point. It counts the rolls after which every legal play leaves a blot.

A third checker on the 6-point takes the risk from 4 rolls to 16; once the 6-point is clear, a third checker on the 5-point takes it from 6 rolls to 23. A gap costs too: with your 3-point empty, 12 rolls force a blot instead of 4. And a fourth checker on the 6-point brings the risk back down to 4 rolls: in these positions, parity matters more than the number of checkers.

When a blot can't be avoided

Some rolls leave a blot whatever you do. Then, in most cases, pick the play that leaves the fewest shots: count your opponent's hitting numbers as in how to count shots, remember that your own points block some combinations, and prefer the blot that also leaves you a sound position for the next roll.

Losing badly? Get one checker off

If your opponent is close to finishing and you haven't borne off a checker yet, you're playing to save the gammon. Bearing off a single checker turns a gammon (two points) into a single loss (one point). Early on, get your checkers out of your opponent's home board, or you also risk a backgammon (three points). Then bring your stragglers home by the fastest route, usually just inside your home board, and take a checker off as soon as you can, even at the cost of a messier board.

Winning big? Play for the gammon, carefully

When your opponent still has many checkers to bring home, a gammon may be on offer. In a money game with the cube on 1, a gammon wins you one extra point, while turning a win into a loss costs you two (from +1 to −1). So a bolder play is only worth it if it wins at least twice as many extra gammons as it adds losses. In a match, the score changes what a gammon is worth: see match play in our doubling guide.

For the whole picture, from crossovers to the cube and match scores, see our guide to gammons in backgammon.

• Moving down instead of bearing off. In a race, a number that can take a checker off usually should.
• Stacking on the low points. Checkers piled on your 1- and 2-points waste pips: a big number takes only one of them off.
• Leaving gaps unfilled. An empty point means some numbers can't bear off. Use spare numbers to fill it.
• Breaking the wrong point against contact. Clear from the back as a rule, and favor even numbers on your highest points.
• Racing for speed while a shot is possible. Against an anchor or a checker on the bar, a safe play is usually worth more than one extra checker off.
• Forgetting the gammon. Far behind, the first checker off matters more than anything; far ahead, check whether a gammon is within reach.

For the errors that cost new players the most in the rest of the game, see common beginner mistakes in our rules guide.

The bear-off is the easiest phase to improve, because the same positions keep coming back. Three habits help:

• Count before you play. Know both pip counts, so you know whether you're racing to win or to save the gammon.
• Look at the shape, not just the pips. Before each play, ask which numbers will bear off next turn, and fill the gaps.
• Against contact, count the bad rolls. Before you choose, check which of your next rolls would force a blot, as in the table above.

The bear-off is where every plan ends. To see how you get there, read our guide to backgammon strategy, starting with the running game.