The Final Phase

Bearing off is the last phase of backgammon — removing your checkers from the board to win the game. While it seems simple (big rolls = good), there’s real skill in bearing off efficiently.

Bearing Off Rules

Prerequisites

  • All 15 checkers must be in your home board (points 1-6)
  • If any checker is outside your home board, you cannot bear off

How to Bear Off

  1. Roll two dice
  2. For each die, you may:
    • Bear off a checker from the matching point (roll a 4 → remove a checker from the 4-point)
    • Move a checker within your home board instead
  3. If the number rolled is higher than your highest occupied point, bear off from the highest point
  4. If the exact point has no checkers, you must move a checker from a higher point (or bear off from the highest if the roll exceeds it)

Doubles During Bear-Off

Doubles are exceptionally powerful during bearing off:

  • Double 6s can remove 4 checkers in one turn
  • Double 5s or 4s can also remove 4 checkers
  • A single doubles roll can swing a close race

Minimizing Wastage

Wastage occurs when your dice rolls have excess value. For example:

  • Rolling a 6 when your highest checker is on the 2-point = 4 pips wasted
  • Rolling a 5 when your highest checker is on the 3-point = 2 pips wasted

How to Minimize Wastage

  1. Spread checkers evenly — avoid clustering on the 1 and 2-points
  2. Keep checkers on higher points — they match more dice values
  3. Fill gaps — a gap in your home board means certain rolls are less efficient
  4. Move within your home board before bearing off if it improves distribution

Ideal Distribution

The ideal bearing off position has checkers evenly distributed across points 1-6. Real games rarely produce perfect distribution, but aiming for it during the transition to bearing off is important.

Contact During Bearing Off

If your opponent still has checkers that can reach your home board, bearing off becomes more dangerous:

Don’t Leave Blots

If hit during bearing off, the hit checker must:

  1. Go to the bar
  2. Re-enter in the opponent’s home board
  3. Travel all the way back to your home board
  4. Only then can you resume bearing off

This typically costs 5-7 moves — often the difference between winning and losing.

When to Play Safe

  • If your opponent has a checker on the bar or in their home board, don’t worry about blots
  • If your opponent has active checkers near your home board, be cautious
  • The closer the race, the more costly contact becomes

When to Take Risks

Sometimes leaving a blot is better than making a suboptimal bearing off play:

  • If you’re far ahead, the risk of being hit once may be acceptable
  • If avoiding the blot means using both dice sub-optimally, consider the tradeoff

Race Calculations

During the bearing off phase, the pip count determines who’s ahead:

  • Count total pips remaining for each player
  • Each checker contributes its point number to the pip count
  • A checker on the 6-point = 6 pips; a checker on the 1-point = 1 pip
  • Lower pip count = closer to winning

Average Rolls

The average backgammon roll moves approximately 8.17 pips (accounting for doubles). Use this to estimate how many rolls each side needs to finish bearing off.

Doubling Cube Decisions

During bearing off, the cube decision is often a pure race calculation:

  • Count pips for both sides
  • Estimate the number of rolls needed
  • Factor in wastage and distribution
  • Double if your advantage is significant enough