Bear off safely

So you finally managed to collect all of your checkers in your homeboard, entering the bear off stage of the game. If your opponent has broken contact and has left your homeboard, then it’s a straight race and you are rushing recklessly to remove as many checkers as possible on each roll.

But what if your opponent made an anchor on your 1-pt or your 2-pt (an ace-point or deuce point game, respectively), like in the positions above? In situations such as these, you need to be a little bit more careful while bearing off — inadvertently leaving a shot could cost you the game! Here are some rules of thumb for how to bear off your checkers safely. There will be plenty of exceptions to them, and ultimately nothing will replace experience and shot-counting, but these will get you started.

Avoid gaps

This rule is the bear-off equivalent to clear from the rear. Leaving a gap typically leads to riskier bear-offs. For example, see the position below with a gap on the 5-pt:

Gaps in a bear off structure invite many rolls that can leave you shots. Above, the gap will force you to leave a shot if you roll a 65, 61, or 51, adding up to 6/36 rolls.

Keep your highest points even

The other simple rule to keep in mind is to try and keep an even number of checkers on your highest points. Consider a variation of the position above, where we have no gaps but have an odd number of checkers on the highest point, instead:

Because the number of checkers on the 5 point is odd, we are at risk of leaving a shot on the next roll. In the position above, we leave a shot if we roll 65. If the 5-pt was also cleared, there would also be a risk of leaving a shot for 64 and 54. And so on.

If you are forced to leave an odd number of checkers on your highest point, then you want to try and make the sum of the 2 highest points even. For example, we adjust the position above to have an even number of checker on the 5-pt but an odd number on the 4-pt, obtaining the following position:

We will be safe if we roll a 65, but in fact we will leave a shot if we roll high doubles (e.g., 55 or 66), which, when combined, are just as likely.

That about sums it up for the simplest rules. Below are more resources with many more advanced example to help you sharpen this skill. At the end of the day, there’s no substitute for practicing bearing off in front of different anchors, and counting the shots.

Further reading:

• A quiz by Kit Woolsey on Ace Point games
• A video on Backgammon is Beautiful on Bearing off
• A lecture by Phil Simborg lecture on bearing off

Next lesson: Game plans