Checker play basics

We have a few more brief topics to tackle before we take on how to improve your checker play. Here’s a list of FAQs about checker play, in no particular order.

Forced moves

If there is a possibility to play both numbers in a roll, they must both be played. A classic example is shown below:

You would love nothing more than to bring your checkers on your midpoint (13-pt) past your opponent Gary’s checkers on the bar point (7-pt) to begin bearing off. However, you have to find a way to do it safely. In the meantime, you rolled what seems like a gift — neither your midpoint checkers nor your inner board checkers can move 6 pips, and you can use the 2 to play 6/4. Next roll, your opponent might be forced to crunch their board or break their 7-point.  However, there is a legal move hiding here, and it’s forced: 13/11, 11/5. This leaves one blue checker exposed on the 13-pt, which might cost you the game, but them’s the breaks.

You can’t skip points

Some newbies can’t figure this rule out, but it’s critical for the game to work. If the 2 numbers you roll are blocked for a checker, then that checker is completely fixed — you can’t skip those points.  

For example, in the position above, if blue rolls a 62, and the points 2 away and 6 away are blocked, you cannot move the checker on the 24-pt 8 pips! That checker is just fixed, and can’t skip over the 22-pt or 18-pt to get to the 16-pt. 

Closed homeboard

If your opponent has made all of the points in their homeboard, then their homeboard is closed. If they happen to hit one of your checkers with a closed board, you lose your turn. This is called being closed out. This is kind of a consequence of the previous rule.

In the position above, Gary closed his homeboard and hit one of your checkers. Even if you roll a 66, you can’t land on the 19-pt before continuing on, so you just lose your turn.

When playing online, you will sometimes still be forced to click the “Roll” button in order to roll a number you know you can’t use. This is because you have to actively decide not to double. It sounds ridiculous to offer somebody the opportunity to double when they’re closed out, but there are situations when a player will want to do so.

Play clockwise and counterclockwise

So far, our board has been set up so that your homeboard is in the bottom left and your checkers are travelling clockwise, like so:

How does this board look from Gary’s perspective?

His homeboard is on the bottom right, and his checkers travel counter-clockwise. Half of you have been suffering looking at my diagrams until now, wondering why everything was backwards, and the other half didn’t even realize this was a possibility until this very moment! Well, you’ll need to get used to playing in both directions. For the sake of clarity, all of the diagrams in this course will be in the same direction (apparently I chose clockwise).

Common bear off misunderstandings

If the number you roll doesn’t exactly bear off a checker, and there is a checker on a higher numbered point, you must move that checker first to ensure that you use the entire roll.

In the position above, you can use the ace to bear off one of the checkers on the ace-pt, but you must use the 4 to play 6/2. (You could also choose to play 6/2/1 and bear off no checkers as you would then still be using your entire roll… but that would be silly.)

If the number you roll doesn’t exactly bear off a checker, and there isn’t a checker on a higher numbered point, you must bear off the checker on the highest point that’s left.

In the position above, you can use the ace to bear off one of the checkers on the ace-pt, but then you must use the 4 to play 3/off. (You could also choose to play 3/2, 2/off, which would bear off one fewer checker, but would also still be using your entire roll. In this situation, that’s also silly, but there might be a situation where you would like to play that way, notably, if your opponent is holding your ace point and it ends up giving you a safer checker distribution.)

Next lesson: Playing safe