Object:

The object of the game is to move all of your checkers into your home quadrant, and then off the board, "bear them off." The first player to bear off all pieces wins the game.

How to Play:

The beginning:
Players have dice that match the color of their pieces, to begin, each player rolls a single die. The higher roll goes first and that initial roll is also used by the winning player as their first roll of the game.

The player moves their piece(s) forward, one space ("pip") per number rolled with the following conditions:

• A piece may only move to a space that is not occupied by two or more of the opponent's pieces.
• Each die needs to be handled separately when moving. For example, if you roll a 2 and a 3, and the spaces 2 and 3 in front of your piece each is filled with multiple opponent pieces (so you can't move there), you are not allowed to combine them to "jump" your piece 5 spaces ahead.
• If you roll doubles, you play your move as if you had four dice of that amount instead of two.

Special Circumstances: If a piece lands on a single opponent piece, then that hit piece is placed on the center strip of the board, the bar.
Whenever a player has a piece or pieces on the bar, before they can make any other move they must get their pieces off the bar. This is accomplished by using a number rolled to move your piece from the Bar onto your opponents home quadrant.

Once a player has all of their pieces in their home quadrant, they may then "bear them off", for game play purposes the piece repository is considered to be one past the edge of the board, and you may "overshoot" to use a larger roll then necessary to move a pice into the repository.

Strategy: It is much better to send your opponents pieces to the Bar when they are in your enemies home quadrant where they are sent the maximum distance back, and you risk being sent the least distance. (Odds are when you hit your opponent you will end up leaving that piece exposed to be hit in the subsequent turn.)

If possible, fill as many pips as you can in your home quadrant with more than two pieces, thereby making it more difficult for your opponent to get off the Bar.

Realize that at a certain point the game is just a horse race, so know when to stop trying to hinder your opponent and just get all your pieces off the board as quick as possible.