Bearing OFF MEN

If a player rolls a double while he has one or men on the bar, he uses all four parts of the roll in the usual way, provided of course that he re-enters any men still on the bar.

Here Black has a man on the bar and has rolled 4-1. Black must move his man off the bar before he moves another man, but coming in off the bar is not possible with a four (or with a 2,3,5 or 6) because red has made all these points. So black must come in with the 1 and use the four to move another man.

The object of the game is to move all of your men around the board and into your inner table, and then to bear them off , i.e. remove them from the board. You are not allowed to start bearing off until all your men are in your inner table.

The player with Red may bear a man off when he rolls the same number as the point on which the man is located. The player with black may bear a man off when he rolls the number of the point opposite to his own man.

In this example, suppose red rolls 6 and 2. He must use the six to bear off a man from the 6 point. He may use a 2 to bear off a man from the 2 point ( but if he prefers he may instead move the man from the 6 point to the four point.

If black rolls 4 and 3, he uses the 4 to bear off a man from the 22 point (which is opposite to the 3 point) or to move a man from the 21 point to the 24 point.

A red man may also be borne off by using a dice number that is higher than the number occupied. This is only possible, however, if red has no other man to the right of the man being borne off., i.e. no men on higher numbered points.

In this example, if red rolls 5 and 4, he bears off two men from the three point.

In the same example, if black rolls 6 and 5, he bears off 2 men from the 21 point. The minimum roll required to bear a man off from this point would be 4, but Black may use a

higher number for this purpose when he has no other men on lower numbered points.

If he prefers, a player may also use all or part or all of his roll to move men in the board rather than to bear men off.

In this position, notice that if red rolls 6 and 3, he has two options. He may bear off two men (from the 6 and the 3 points), or he may move his man from the 6 to 3 and then bear off one man from the 3 point. (In the latter case he is not making the maximum use of the pips on the dice, but