Bearing off

Once a player has moved all of his or her fifteen checkers into his or her home board, he or she can begin bearing off. A player bears off a checker by rolling a number that corresponds to the point, on which the checker resides, and removing that stone from the board. If there is no checker on the point indicated by the roll, the player must make a legal move using a checker on a higher-numbered point. If there are no checkers on the higher numbered points, the player can remove a stone from the next highest point. A player is under no obligation to bear off if he can make an otherwise legal move. A player must have all of his or her active checkers inside the home board to bear off. If a checker is hit during the bear-off process, the player must bring that checker back to his or her home board before continuing to bear off.



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