Step 1 · The race
This is the whole game: move all 15 checkers into your home board, then bear them off before your opponent.
Coach narration
Step 2 · Winning goal
Before tactics matter, you need the win condition. What must White do to win the game?
Choose the winning goal.
Quick check
- Bear off all 15 checkers
- Hit one enemy checker
- Make any safe point
Show the correct answer
Correct answer: Bear off all 15 checkers — Correct. Bring them home, then remove all 15 from the board.
- Hit one enemy checker — Hitting sends one checker back to restart its journey, but it does not finish the game.
- Make any safe point — Safe points are useful, but they are tools, not the finish.
Coach narration
Step 3 · Final checker
Here is the last moment of a game. White has already borne off 14 checkers, and one checker remains on the 1-point.
Tap roll to reveal double ones. You only need one of them.
The roll: 1-1
Coach narration
Step 4 · Bear it off
Because every White checker is home, the 1 can remove this checker from the board.
Use the 1: tap the highlighted checker on the 1-point, then tap Bear off.
The roll: 1-1
The move: 1/off
That is the winning action: the fifteenth checker is off, and the game ends the moment it leaves the board — the leftover dice no longer matter.
Common mistake: The goal is to remove the checker. Use the 1 from the 1-point to bear it off.
Coach narration
Step 5 · Board phases
You just played the very last move of a game. Everything before it — moving by dice, building safe points, and bringing checkers home — leads to this moment.
Coach narration
What you learned
You can now state the goal of standard backgammon: bring all fifteen checkers home, then bear them off before your opponent.
Coach narration