Step 1 · Pins are temporary
A pinned checker is frozen only while an opposing top checker stays on that point. When the top checker leaves, the buried checker resurfaces.
Coach narration
Step 2 · What frees the checker?
White is sitting on a pinned Black checker. What releases that Black checker?
Choose when a pin is released.
Quick check
- The top checker moves away
- It frees automatically next roll
- It enters from the bar
Show the correct answer
Correct answer: The top checker moves away — Correct. Once the top checker leaves, the trapped checker is free to move again.
- It frees automatically next roll — Pins do not expire by time. The covering checker must leave.
- It enters from the bar — Pinned checkers are not on the bar. They are trapped under the top checker.
Coach narration
Step 3 · Move off the pin
Use the 3 to move White off the pinned point. Watch the Black checker reappear underneath.
Use the 3: move the highlighted White checker away from the pinned point.
The roll: 3-1
The move: 17/14
The pin is released.
Common mistake: Move the checker that is sitting on top of the pinned Black checker.
Coach narration
Step 4 · Finish the 1
Now use the 1. The important lesson is that abandoning a pin gives the opponent that checker back.
Use the 1: move the same White checker one more point.
The roll: 3-1
The move: 14/13
Turn complete.
Common mistake: The 1 continues the checker that left the pin.
Coach narration
What you learned
You can now explain both sides of a Plakoto pin: how to trap a checker and how a pin is released.
Coach narration