Get those checkers off the board before your opponent does.

If you have reached a running game, bearing your checkers off the board is mechanical, meaning that the correct moves for each roll of the dice are well established. Here are some rules to follow if all your checkers are on your inner board.

Bear off as many checkers as you can on each turn. Although this would appear to be self-evident, I have seen players try to “neaten” their board instead of bearing off. If you have checkers on each of the 6 points of your inner board, you can bear off 2 checkers with a roll that isn’t a double. For example, with a 5-4 you bear off checkers from your 5-point and your 4-point.

If you roll a double, you can bear off up to 4 checkers, if you have that many on the point corresponding to the roll. For example, if you roll a double 4, you can bear off up to 4 checkers from your 4-point.

If one or both of your dice comes up with a number corresponding to a point with no checkers on it, you can use the total of both dice to bear off. With a 4-2 you can bear off a checker from your 6-point. With a double-3 you can bear off 2 checkers from your 6-point.

If you can’t bear off a checker, try to move a checker to an open point. This increases the chances of bearing off one or more checkers on your next turn. If you can’t do that, make a move that will reduce the number of checkers on the point with the most checkers on it.

One exception I would make to trying to fill open points is if you have to roll a double on your next turn in order to win. Let’s say you will be left with 4 checkers on the board after your current turn, and you will lose if you don’t bear them all off on your next turn. In that case, try to move your farthest back checker to the lowest point possible to increase your chances of rolling a winning double.

For example, if you have checkers on your 6, 4, 4, and 3-points with a move of 2 remaining, instead of moving a checker from your 4-point to your 2-point, move the checker from your 6-point to your 4-point. This increases the number of rolls that allow you to bear off your remaining checkers on the next turn from a double-6 only to a double 4, 5, or 6.

If you are in a running game and have some checkers on your outer board, treat your outer board like your inner board. That is, move the checkers from your outer board to your inner board as fast as possible, without regard to what points of your inner board they land on. This is especially important if your opponent is threatening to gammon you, because you need to bear off at least one checker as soon as possible.

If you are bearing off and your opponent still has 1 or more checkers on your inner board, you have to consider the possibility of being hit. In that case, you may want to forgo bearing off on a particular turn in order to maintain a block on any point beyond where your opponent’s checkers are located.