Next: Doubling, Previous: Hitting and Entering, Up: Rules of the game
Once a player has moved all of his fifteen checkers into his home board, he may commence bearing off. A player bears off a checker by rolling a number that corresponds to the point on which the checker resides, and then removing that checker from the board. Thus, rolling a 6 permits the player to remove a checker from the six point.
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 higher-numbered points, the player is permitted (and required) to remove a checker from the highest point on which one of his checkers resides. A player is under no obligation to bear off if he can make an otherwise legal move.
White rolls 64 and bears off two checkers.
| | | +----6--------->
| | | | +--4-------->
| | | | | |
| | | | X X X X |
| | | X X X X X |
+12-11-10--9--8--7-------6--5--4--3--2--1-+
A player must have all of his active checkers in his home board in order to bear off. If a checker is hit during the bear-off process, the player must bring that checker back to his home board before continuing to bear off. The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins the game.