The object of the game
Each player starts with 15 checkers. Move yours around the board into your home board, then remove them. Removing a checker is called bearing off. The first player to bear off all 15 wins the game.
The app calls the light checkers Ivory and the dark checkers Umber. Every picture uses Ivory’s point numbers. Ivory travels from 24 towards 1. Umber moves the other way, towards the point marked 24. The two colours share the same points and can block or hit one another where their routes meet.
Count Ivory’s four stacks: two on 24, five on 13, three on 8 and five on 6. Umber’s stacks mirror them on 1, 12, 17 and 19.
Read the four quarters
A triangle is a point. Each quarter has six points. From Ivory’s perspective, points 1–6 form the home board and 7–12 the outer board. Points 13–18 are Umber’s outer board and 19–24 are Umber’s home board. The wooden strip down the middle is the bar. It holds checkers temporarily after they have been hit.
Point numbers are relative. The same triangle is Ivory’s 24-point and Umber’s 1-point. To convert a number from the other player’s perspective, subtract it from 25. This matters when you watch commentary or read a move written from the player on roll’s side.
Ivory uses a 4 to move from 24 to 20. The checker is still in Umber’s home board and has 20 pips left to travel.
Read moves and stacks
A pip is one step along the numbered points. The notation 24/20 means the checker starts on 24 and lands on 20, travelling four pips. Read bar/22 as “enter from the bar onto point 22” and 5/off as “bear off a checker from point 5”. An asterisk after the destination marks a hit. A number in parentheses shows how many checkers repeat a move.
When more than five checkers share a point, the app shows the stack total on the top checker. In the guide, arrows show a move or the relevant part of a turn. Dice show the roll you have to work with.
The highlighted triangle is Ivory’s 20-point. When Umber describes the same point from their side, it is their 5-point.
Practice question
How many checkers does each colour start with on its own 6-point, and where is Umber’s 6-point in the diagrams?
Show answer
Each colour starts with five checkers there. Umber’s 6-point is labelled 19 because 25 − 6 = 19.