Find the answer that fits your game
If someone asks whether they can take an opponent's checker, the answer depends on which game is on the table. The same walnut board might host Long Nard, where a single opposing checker seals a landing point, or Tavla, where a lone opposing checker is vulnerable. The pieces look alike. The consequences are different. That is the first question to settle before interpreting any rule.
This FAQ uses the Nard Online product specification for the three playable choices: Long Nard, Tavla Classic and Tavla Modern. Other games belong in our variants reference, not in the app feature list. Board positions below are numbered from the moving player's perspective. Point 24 is distant; points 1 through 6 are the player's home. In Long Nard, both sides move counterclockwise around the physical board. In Tavla, the two sides move in opposite physical directions. A shorthand such as 13/8 means five steps from your 13-point to your 8-point.
There are two ways to use the page. If you have a disagreement at the board, find the exact question and check the position given with it. If you are learning from zero, begin with how to play nard, then keep this FAQ open as a reference. For complete sequences rather than isolated answers, read the Long Nard rules and Tavla rules. The aim here is accuracy you can apply on your next roll, not a large collection of catchy one-line slogans.
The board in three questions
Which direction do the checkers travel?
Imagine you are moving the ivory pieces. Your own point numbers decrease as a checker travels toward home. That numerical convention is useful for written examples in either game. Physically, both Long Nard players travel counterclockwise along the board, starting from heads at diagonal corners. In Tavla, players travel against each other. Never transfer a diagram from one game into the other without checking direction and setup. The glossary explains the terms home, outer board and bar.
Do fifteen checkers mean fifteen separate turns?
No. A turn uses the two dice, not one checker by definition. You may move two eligible checkers, or make two legal moves with one checker, subject to the occupancy and head rules. Doubles supply four movements. On a roll of 5 and 2, the total is not simply permission to jump seven points; an intermediate legal stop matters if you want one checker to use both dice. The start of a Long Nard game adds a separate restriction on how many pieces may leave the head.
Is the center bar always a place for captured pieces?
Only in Tavla. When a Tavla checker is hit it waits on the bar and must re-enter through the opponent's home board before the owner can move other checkers. Long Nard contains no hitting, so its center divider has no such game function. If an explanation says every backgammon variant uses the bar for captured pieces, it has collapsed two different rule systems. See the dedicated Tavla rules for a bar-entry example.
Long Nard questions that decide legal moves
The head is a limit, not a suggestion
All fifteen checkers start on one head point. Normally one checker may leave the head per turn, even if the player has several movement values. Suppose your first roll is 6 and 5 and your starting stack is on point 24. If both intermediate landings are legal, 24/18/13 uses both dice with one departing checker. It does not authorize moving one checker to 18 and a second checker to 19. The special opening exception is narrower than a blanket permission to release two pieces on doubles.
Why can a six-point wall be illegal?
Long Nard permits you to control a point with one checker. Five consecutive controlled landing points may cause real trouble for the opponent, but six can eliminate every passage if none of the opponent's pieces has advanced beyond that wall. Nard Online prohibits a six-point block that would trap all fifteen opposing checkers behind it. That rule is about the position of opposing checkers, not about the absolute strength of your attack. The separate six-point block guide is the place for advanced arrangements.
Must a player move even when every choice looks unpleasant?
A playable die is not optional merely because the resulting checker placement is weak. If both dice can be used, both must be used. If only one of two distinct dice can be used, the higher die takes precedence when it is playable. A blocked turn is possible, but calling it blocked requires checking all legal sequences, not just the move you first wanted. Undo before confirming helps you reconsider a trial move in the app; it does not convert an illegal option into a legal one.
Tavla questions that cause disputes
A blot is not a safe landing spot
In Tavla, one opposing checker on a point is a blot. Your legal landing hits it and sends it to the bar. Two or more opposing checkers make the destination closed. For example, with your checker on point 13 and a roll of 5, point 8 is available for a hit if one opposing checker stands there; the same destination is forbidden if two stand there. In Long Nard, one opponent on point 8 would already close it. That one contrast resolves many cross-variant arguments.
Why does the bar take priority?
A hit Tavla checker cannot be forgotten while the rest of your pieces continue racing. You must attempt re-entry first. A die of 3 enters on the corresponding point in the opponent's home board if that landing is not closed; if both dice are blocked, you cannot play any other checker. A legal re-entry may allow the second die to be used, but only after the checker returns. The precise board orientation needs to be checked against the chosen player's view.
Classic and Modern are not different board setups
The two Tavla modes share the same starting arrangement, movement, hitting and bearing-off mechanics. The documented difference is that Tavla Modern uses the doubling cube while Tavla Classic does not. The cube is not a third die and does not change how far a checker moves. Traditional descriptions may discuss money stakes when explaining old board games; Nard Online uses virtual coins without real-world value or cash withdrawal, so those descriptions must not be read as its commercial rules.
Scoring, dice and strategy
A standard win happens when a player bears off all fifteen checkers first. In Long Nard, the owner specification gives a normal win one point and mars two when the loser has borne off none. Tavla has the corresponding double-scoring gammon or mars result. Some Western backgammon references describe a separate triple-result backgammon. That is useful outside this product, but it is not confirmation that Nard Online implements such a result. Do not infer a feature from a traditional name such as koks.
Dice present thirty-six equally likely ordered outcomes when two fair six-sided dice are considered. Six outcomes are doubles, so a double appears with probability one in six per roll. A specific ordered pair such as first die 6 and second die 5 has chance one in thirty-six; an unordered 6 and 5 has two possible orders, giving one in eighteen. Probability helps with decisions, but it never means that a particular combination is due on the next turn. See dice and odds and Long Nard strategy for position-aware reasoning.
In the late game, a player's total pip count is useful but incomplete. A lower total often signals a faster race, while open points, stranded pieces and possible hits still matter. In Tavla you may need to bring a checker back from the bar; in Long Nard you can lose time behind a well-timed block. Avoid declaring a winner solely from the score or dice without examining the board. Practical decisions are treated separately in the Tavla strategy guide.
Playing Nard Online
The complete browser version is at Play Nard Online. It offers Long Nard, Tavla Classic and Tavla Modern. Players can choose bots in Easy, Medium and Hard levels for offline games, pass a device between two people, or enter online Quick Match. Private rooms use invite codes, and the game also allows watching live matches. These are distinct experiences: offline bots do not require a connection, while live matchmaking and rooms do.
At online tables, players can communicate through optional voice chat, text chat and emoji reactions, and can mute or report others. Server-side dice and a turn clock with time bank support structured play. Reconnection is designed to return a player to the same board after a drop. Players can inspect statistics, match history, levels, achievements, missions and leaderboards. Boards, dice, checker sets and avatar frames are cosmetic choices, not rule changes. See the app guide for how these features fit together.
Nard FAQ: Rules, Scores, Play and Coins: Android is available on Google Play, while the iPhone submission remains in Apple review.
Worked situations you can test on a board
Situation A: the apparent seven-step shortcut
Take a Long Nard checker on your 16-point and roll 5 and 2. If your 11-point is occupied by an opponent and your 14-point is free, you cannot use 5 first to reach 11. You may be able to play 16/14 and then 14/9, provided point 9 is free. If point 9 is also blocked, a different checker might need to absorb the five. The final arithmetic distance is less important than the legal order of each die.
Situation B: your own wall and the opponent's escape
Imagine you control five consecutive Long Nard points and a sixth legal landing would complete a wall. Ask where all fifteen opposing checkers stand. If none has crossed the wall, the sixth point would create an illegal total trap. If at least one opposing checker is in front of it, the rule may permit the six-point block. The same picture can therefore produce different legal answers depending on a checker elsewhere on the board.
Situation C: a tempting Tavla hit
Your Tavla checker sits on your 13-point, and an opposing blot stands on your 8-point. With a 5 you can land on it, sending the opponent to the bar. But if your remaining die is 2, examine where the resulting checker or another checker can go next. Hitting can be productive, yet it can also leave a lone checker exposed. The rule says the hit is available, not that it is automatically best.
Situation D: bearing off with a higher die
All your Long Nard checkers are home on points 1 through 5; there is none on 6. You roll a 6. Because there is no checker on a higher point, you may bear off one from your farthest occupied point, which in this example is 5. Reverse the example: leave a checker on 6 and ask whether a smaller die can remove a checker from point 5. It cannot simply skip a higher checker under a convenient overshoot story.
Situation E: an online match interrupted
If a connection disappears during an online game, the documented reconnect feature attempts to restore the same board. It is not a promise that all outages or devices will behave perfectly. Save account progress by signing in when you want continuity between devices. For questions about personal data or account deletion, the authoritative destinations are privacy and account deletion, not guesses made inside a strategic article.
Frequently asked questions
1. How many checkers are used in a game of nard?
Each player uses fifteen checkers, so thirty are on the board at the start. Both Long Nard and Tavla use this count. The difference is placement: a Long Nard player starts with a single stack on the head, while a Tavla player begins with checkers spread over four starting points. The piece count itself does not identify the variant.
2. How many points are on the board?
There are twenty-four narrow triangular points in four quadrants of six. A point here is a place to put a checker, not the score for a win. When someone says your home consists of points 1 to 6, they mean the last six spaces before bearing off. Point numbering should always be stated from the moving player's perspective.
3. Is Long Nard the same game as Tavla?
No. Long Nard puts all pieces on a head, moves both players counterclockwise and bans hits. Tavla spreads the pieces at the start, moves the players in opposite physical directions and allows a lone checker to be hit. Both use dice and bearing off, which explains the resemblance. Read the comparison of nard and backgammon for a quick decision chart.
4. Can you hit an opponent's checker in Long Nard?
No checker may be hit in Long Nard. Even one opposing checker makes its point unavailable for landing. If you roll 4 with a checker on your point 16 and the opponent occupies point 12, that checker cannot finish on 12. Look for another legal move using the die; do not move the opponent's piece to the bar.
5. What is the head in Long Nard?
The head is the starting stack of fifteen pieces. From the mover's numbered viewpoint it begins on point 24. It is not a second home board, and it is not a piece that can capture an opponent. Many opening plans fail because beginners treat the head like an unrestricted source of pieces. The ordinary one-departure rule must be considered before trying combinations.
6. How many checkers may leave the head in one turn?
Usually only one. The documented first-turn exception applies to 6 and 6, 4 and 4, or 3 and 3 when the opponent's position would otherwise prevent completing the roll with one checker. It is a conditional exception, not permission to release two pieces on any double. A later 6 and 6 does not automatically allow two head departures.
7. How do doubles work?
A pair of matching dice gives four movements of that number. With 2 and 2, think of four legal two-step moves, not one eight-step leap without intermediate checks. You can distribute the movements among eligible pieces, subject to the specific variant's limitations. The doubling cube in Tavla Modern is separate equipment; it has nothing to do with throwing matching dice.
8. Must I use both dice when I can?
Yes. A player may not voluntarily waste a playable number. If only one of two different dice is possible, use the higher playable die. A blocked entry, an occupied destination or an impossible sequence can cause some movement to be lost, but first examine all legal orders. The game highlighting can help you inspect choices, while the underlying legal obligation still applies.
9. May I build six consecutive points in Long Nard?
Only when the block does not leave all fifteen opposing checkers trapped behind it. Occupying six points in a row can stop movement completely, so the opposing checker positions matter. Five points can already be strong. Before closing the sixth, look beyond your preferred local section of the board and see whether at least one opponent has passed the blockade.
10. When may a player begin bearing off?
Only after every one of that player's fifteen checkers has reached their own home board. If a single checker remains on the outer board, taking pieces off is premature. The home board consists of your points 1 through 6. The dice values then determine which checker can be removed or which legal movement within home remains available.
11. Can I bear off using a die higher than an occupied point?
Sometimes. A die can take a checker from a lower point if its matching point is empty and there is no checker on any higher point. Suppose your highest checker is on 4 and you roll a 6: taking a checker off 4 is permitted. If you still have a checker on 6, a 5 does not allow an arbitrary checker from point 3 to disappear.
12. What is mars?
Mars is a double-scoring win when the opponent has not borne off any checkers. In Nard Online Long Nard a normal win counts one and mars counts two. Tavla also has double-scoring gammon or mars. Do not confuse this result with the ordinary dice double or with buying virtual coins for online tables; those are different concepts entirely.
13. Is there a three-point backgammon or koks result?
Traditional Western backgammon describes a triple result under particular conditions, and some regions use the term koks. The current Nard Online specification does not confirm a separate triple-result feature for its Tavla modes. We therefore explain the traditional concept as background, not as app scoring. This point is held for explicit rules-owner confirmation.
14. Does Tavla Classic use a doubling cube?
No. Tavla Classic is the mode without the cube. Tavla Modern uses it while retaining the usual Tavla board setup and hitting rules. A cube alters the value of a game under the relevant rule set; it does not add another roll or change a checker from five steps to ten. Questions about cube acceptance should be read in Modern context only.
15. What happens after a checker is hit in Tavla?
It goes to the bar. That checker must re-enter before its owner moves anything else. Dice that would enter on closed points cannot be used for entry there. Consider the opponent controlling both entry destinations for your 3 and 5: neither die can return the checker, so you cannot simply advance a different checker elsewhere.
16. May I land on a point occupied by two enemy checkers in Tavla?
No. Two or more opposing checkers close the point, protecting it from a hit. One enemy checker is a blot and is vulnerable to a legal landing. With your piece on 13 and a roll of 5, enemy occupancy at point 8 changes the answer: one checker can be hit; two make that destination forbidden.
17. Does a backgammon game depend on skill or luck?
Both. You cannot select the dice, but you can decide which legal moves to make with them. Over a short run luck may dominate an outcome; repeated decisions about exposure, timing, blocks and racing allow skill to matter. A claim that every result is predetermined by a strong player would be just as misleading as calling the game pure chance.
18. What is a pip count?
It is the total remaining movement distance of your checkers toward bearing off. Add each checker's distance to home, then compare totals in a race. Pip count is a useful snapshot, not a complete verdict: Tavla hitting risk and Long Nard block timing can outweigh a modest lead. A lower count also cannot guarantee your next dice roll.
19. How often do doubles appear?
There are six matching pairs among thirty-six ordered outcomes of two six-sided dice. That makes the probability one in six, or roughly 16.7 percent, assuming fair dice. The roll does not remember previous turns. Ten consecutive turns without doubles do not make the next roll more likely to be a double.
20. How long does a nard match take?
There is no fixed duration in minutes for every match. Players, chosen mode, decisions, blocked turns and the turn clock affect the experience. An online turn clock with time bank limits deliberation, but it should not be converted into an invented promise that every game finishes in a specific number of minutes. See the dedicated game duration guide.
21. Can I play Nard Online in a browser?
Yes. The owner identifies nardonline.com/play/ as the complete browser version of the game, not a marketing preview. The URL must remain unchanged. You can choose among the documented Long Nard and Tavla variants. Browser performance and availability should be checked live before any launch-day operational statement.
22. Is there an offline computer opponent?
Yes. The app specification lists Easy, Medium and Hard bots, and offline play does not require a connection. Hard looks ahead and can pursue mars. This is different from joining an online match with another person. For a first lesson, a lower difficulty can make it easier to stop and study the board without competing against strangers.
23. Can two people play on one device?
Yes. Pass & Play lets two people share the same device, taking turns at one board. It suits a train, a sitting room or a quiet match with a friend without setting up two online accounts. Because both players can see the screen, do not confuse this with private internet rooms, where players connect from separate devices.
24. Can I play with friends remotely?
The documented online options include private rooms with an invite code and joining a friend's table. Quick Match is a separate way to find an opponent. If a code is not working, confirm that both people selected the intended room and have connectivity before assuming a board-rule problem. See playing with friends.
25. Does the game include voice chat?
Optional voice chat, text messages and emoji reactions are listed for online tables. Players may mute or report another player. Communication features should not be interpreted as permission for harassment or unsafe behavior. A player who wants quiet competition can use the provided controls rather than engaging with every message.
26. What happens if the internet connection drops?
For online matches, reconnect and continue at the same board is a documented feature. It does not mean an offline bot session needs internet. Nor is it a guarantee about an indefinite outage. If continuity across devices matters, use sign-in rather than relying solely on a guest session.
27. Can I watch other people play?
The product specification includes watching live matches. That is distinct from entering the match as a competitor or controlling either player's moves. Spectating is useful when studying openings or seeing how someone handles a blocked endgame, but it does not alter the dice or the rules of the table being observed.
28. Are online table coins real money?
No. Nard Online virtual coins are entertainment-only and have no real-world monetary value. They may be earned, received through bonuses or rewarded advertising, or purchased, but they cannot be withdrawn or exchanged for cash. There is no real-money gambling. This distinction must remain prominent wherever tables, store offers or purchases are described.
29. What does the Season Pass offer?
The specified Season Pass lasts thirty days and provides fifty percent more XP, a double daily bonus and an exclusive avatar frame. It does not guarantee wins or improve the dice. Remove Ads and coin packs are other listed purchases. The game's rewards and cosmetic items should never be presented as money-making opportunities.
30. Can I continue my progress on another device?
Guest play is supported, but signing in is the documented route to keeping progress across devices. Profiles, statistics and match history are part of the app's features. Before switching hardware, confirm the account you are using. If you need help, use the support page rather than sharing sensitive account details in a public game room.
31. Is Nard Online already available for iPhone or Android?
The full browser game remains at /play/; Samsung, Huawei and RuStore applications are still awaiting storefront approval.
32. Why does the app show a 17+ or 18+ rating?
The owner states that the age classification relates to simulated gambling, because online tables involve virtual coins. These coins are not redeemable for money. An age label is not advice to younger players to bypass store rules. Read the product's terms and relevant store information for the current eligibility conditions.
Summary
A reliable answer begins with the game selected. Long Nard relies on head departures and blocking without hits. Tavla allows blots to be hit and prioritizes re-entry from the bar. Both games ask you to use dice legally and bring fifteen checkers home. Nard Online's documented modes and online features should be described exactly as supplied, without borrowing unconfirmed scoring from traditional variants or suggesting virtual coins are money.
Use the short answers here to settle a turn, then follow the linked specialist guides when a position needs diagrams or a full decision tree. Before making a claim about a live store listing or a specific gameplay result, verify it with the game owner or the current build.