How to play long narde: a step-by-step guide for beginners

This guide takes you from an empty board to your first finished game in nine steps. No prior experience is assumed: we start with how the checkers are set up and end with how the score is counted and where to play your first game. Every step is one rule you can immediately test on the board.

Step 1. How is the board set up at the start?

The board has 24 points split into four quarters of six. Each player owns 15 checkers of one colour, and in long narde every one of them starts on a single point — the head. White's head is point 24, Black's head is point 12. Nothing else is on the board.

Long narde board with the starting position: all 15 white checkers stacked on point 24 (the head), all 15 black on point 12 — no scattered stacks as in short backgammon.
Step 1. The long-narde starting position: 15 white checkers on point 24, 15 black on point 12.

Each player's goal is to walk all 15 checkers around the board and then bear them off from their own home board. Whoever bears off all 15 first wins the game.

Step 2. Rolling the dice: who moves first?

Before the first turn each player rolls one die. The higher number opens the game and plays that turn with both dice. If the two dice show the same number, roll again.

From then on the turn alternates, and each turn begins with a roll of both dice. There is no way to skip a roll: if a legal move exists, you must play it.

Step 3. How do the moves work?

A roll gives you two independent moves — one per die. You may play both with the same checker (a 5 and a 3 move one checker eight points in two hops) or split them between two different checkers. A double — two identical numbers — is played four times instead of two.

Movement is counter-clockwise only and never reverses: White runs from 24 toward 1, Black from 12 toward 1 around the board. Unlike short backgammon, the two players never travel toward each other — their routes run in parallel.

Step 4. The head rule: how many checkers leave the head per turn?

This is the rule beginners break most often. Per turn, exactly one checker may leave the head. So a typical opening turn is «take one off the head» plus «advance a checker that left earlier».

Long narde board a few moves into the game, illustrating the head rule: each side has managed to bring only one or two checkers off the head, the rest still wait on the starting point.
Steps 3–4. A real expert position shortly after the start: each side has taken one or two checkers off the head, the other 13 still wait on the starting point.

The exception: on the very first move of the game with 3-3, 4-4, or 6-6, you may take two checkers off the head. Every other double, and every later turn, is back to one.

Step 5. How do you occupy points and build blocks?

A checker may not stop on a point that holds at least one opposing checker. Your own checkers stack without limit. And that is the whole of the interaction: long narde has no hits and no bar — you can never knock an opponent's checker back to the start.

So the only way to slow the opponent down is to take the points they need before they get there. A run of your own consecutive points is called a block, and it is the positional heart of the game — covered in depth in the long-narde strategy guide.

Step 6. Why can't you build six points in a row?

One restriction keeps blocking from ending the game outright: you may not build a continuous run of six of your own points if the opponent has no checker left ahead of that run. Such a wall would be unpassable, and the opponent could not move at all.

In practice: a five-point block is always legal; the sixth point is legal only once at least one opposing checker has already passed the block. The rule is formalised in order №347 of the Russian Ministry of Sports of 30.04.2025.

Step 7. What is the home board and when can you start bearing off?

The home board is the final quarter of your route: points 1–6 for White and 13–18 for Black. Bear-off begins only when all 15 of your checkers are inside it — while even one is still travelling, you may not take any off.

Step 8. How do you bear the checkers off?

Long narde board in the bear-off phase: both sides have brought every checker into their home boards and each has already borne off seven.
Steps 7–8. The final phase: both sides have every checker home and are bearing off — White has borne off 7, Black 7 as well.
  • Die N bears off a checker from point N of your home board.
  • If point N is empty, you may instead use the die to advance inside the home board.
  • If the rolled number is greater than your farthest occupied point, the die bears off the farthest checker.

The player who bears off all 15 checkers first wins the game.

Step 9. How is the score counted: normal win, mars, koks?

Not every win is worth the same:

  • Normal win — 1 point: the opponent had borne off at least one checker.
  • Mars — 2 points: the opponent had borne off none.
  • Koks — 3 points: the opponent had borne off none and still has at least one checker in your starting quarter.
Long narde board one move before a mars (2 points): White bears off the last of 15 checkers while Black has not borne off a single one — all 15 black checkers sit in the home board.
Step 9. A real mars position from the expert-game database: White has borne off 14 of 15, Black has borne off none — all 15 pulled into the home board.

A single game is a match to one point; competitive play uses matches to 3, 5, or 7, where these values add up. When and how to play for the bigger prize is worked through in «Mars and koks: rules and scoring».

Your first games

Reading the rules gets you maybe half the way — the rest is muscle memory for the head rule and the direction of travel. The lowest-friction practice is the computer: it never lets you make an illegal move, so the rules correct themselves as you play.

Beginner questions

How do I learn narde from scratch?
Four things, in order: the setup (all 15 checkers on the head), the direction of travel (counter-clockwise only), the head rule (one checker off the head per turn), and the bear-off condition (all 15 checkers must be home). Scoring and blocking come naturally during your first games. The fastest way to lock it in is practice: play two or three games against the computer, where an illegal move simply cannot be made.
How many checkers are there in narde?
Each player has 15 checkers of one colour — 30 on the board. The board has 24 points divided into four quarters of 6. In long narde all 15 of a player's checkers begin as a single stack on the head: point 24 for White, point 12 for Black.
Where should a beginner start?
Start with the setup and the very first move: stack all 15 checkers on the head, roll one die each to decide the order, then play your first turn — take one checker off the head and advance it. That single turn already demonstrates the head rule and the direction of travel, which together account for most beginner mistakes.
How do the moves work in narde?
A roll of two dice gives two independent moves: each die value is one step for one checker. You may play both steps with the same checker or one step each with two different checkers. Doubles play four times. Movement is forward along your route only, counter-clockwise, and only onto points free of opposing checkers.
How many checkers may leave the head per turn?
Only one. The single exception is the first move of the game on 3-3, 4-4, or 6-6, when two checkers may leave the head. In every other case — including all other doubles and every later turn — the one-per-turn limit applies.
Can I hit an opponent's checker in long narde?
No. Hits and the bar do not exist in long narde. If a point holds even one opposing checker you cannot land there — but you cannot knock it off either. Defense rests entirely on tempo (staying ahead in the race) and on blocking key points.
How is long narde different from short backgammon?
Long narde has one starting head instead of four stacks, unidirectional movement, no hits and no bar, and mars/koks scoring instead of gammon/backgammon. Because nothing ever gets hit, long narde is usually the gentler starting point: a poor move never sends a checker back to the beginning of the board.

The rules stick fastest when you use them. Play long narde against the AI — free, in the browser, no registration. Every game is analysed afterwards, so you can see exactly which move went wrong and why.

Source of rules: order №347 of the Russian Ministry of Sports of 30.04.2025, article 23 (long narde). Full reference: the long narde rules guide.