Long Nard Rules: Common Questions Answered at the Board

Start with the correct game

The first disagreement at a tea-house table often has nothing to do with dice. One player remembers Tavla, another learned Long Nard, and both think the other is inventing a rule. Establish the variant before anyone moves. Long Nard places all fifteen checkers at the head, has no hitting, and sends both armies counterclockwise around the board. Tavla begins with distributed checkers moving in opposite directions. In Tavla, a lone enemy checker can be hit; in Long Nard, that lone checker closes the point entirely. That single distinction changes almost every opening.

This guide uses the moving player's own points, numbered from 24 toward 1, where points 1 to 6 make up home. When an example says 24/18, it means a six-pip movement from the mover's 24-point to the mover's 18-point, provided the destination is legal. A move is not permission to jump an occupied landing point simply because another route looks attractive. Intermediate landing points matter whenever a checker uses more than one die in sequence. Every illustrated position is hypothetical unless specifically described as the initial setup. Verify the actual occupancy before copying a move.

Nard Online supports Long Nard, Tavla Classic, and Tavla Modern. The browser game is at play Nard Online. The two Tavla modes share hitting and bar entry, while Modern additionally includes a doubling cube. Neither that cube nor Tavla's bar mechanic belongs in the Long Nard answers below. The comparison of Long and Short Nard is useful if your previous experience comes from short backgammon.

Read the position, not the player's confidence

Every turn has three checks. First, read both dice as separate movement allowances. Second, test whether each intended landing point is open; one enemy checker already prevents landing in Long Nard. Third, make sure the whole move complies with restrictions that apply beyond the destination, notably the limit on leaving the head and the six-point wall rule. A player's preferred strategic destination is irrelevant if the resulting movement is illegal. Undoing a move before confirmation can help someone examine alternatives in Nard Online, but it does not change the rules.

For teaching, I ask players to say their position aloud: "My checker is at 24, the 18-point is available, and the roll is 6 and 5." If the path also needs 18/13, inspect the 13-point separately. A sequence of two legal steps is different from claiming that an eleven-pip combined jump ignores the first destination. The dice may often be used in either order, but only an actually legal order counts. The same method will resolve more disputes than an argument about which cafe's custom is older.

The head determines the opening

At the beginning all fifteen checkers form one stack on each player's head, at diagonally opposite corners. The ordinary restriction is one departure from the head during a turn, not one total checker move. A checker that has departed can continue on a later die if its next landing is legal. The player does not unlock a second departure simply by rolling doubles. That is why early head development involves both forward movement and careful use of the remaining dice.

The owner rule includes a narrow first-turn exception for 6-6, 4-4 and 3-3 when opposing checkers would otherwise stop the roll from being completed by the initially moved checker. This is not a blanket right to send two checkers out on any double, and it cannot be exported to every later turn. Some clubs write their opening procedures differently. When describing Nard Online, the documented product rule takes precedence over stories from another board. The specific engine implementation of opening exceptions still needs owner gameplay approval before publication.

Legal landing points and forced moves

You may occupy a point already held by your own checker, and a single opponent checker is enough to make a destination unavailable. Unlike Tavla, there is no hit, no captured checker, and no bar to enter from. Two dice show two separate movements, and a double supplies four movements of the same number. Play the available full roll when you can. If only one die can be played, the higher number must be used when it is playable. These obligations apply even if the resulting position looks awkward.

One classic misunderstanding concerns a 6-5. A player might prefer moving six because the five would open an uncomfortable gap. Preference does not permit discarding the five when a legal five move exists. Conversely, a player is not required to make a physically impossible landing simply to display both numbers. To settle the question, examine alternative legal orders and alternative checkers rather than assuming that the first attempted route is the only route.

The wall must leave an opponent a route

Five consecutive owned points make a powerful barrier. A sixth is subject to a special limitation: the owner specification forbids a six-point block that traps all fifteen opposing checkers behind it. It is not enough to count six attractive points and announce victory. The rule asks where the opponent's fifteen checkers actually are relative to the proposed wall. If at least one has already passed beyond that barrier, the wall is not trapping the entire army in the same way. That does not automatically make every other move legal; you must still examine the head, dice, and landing points.

The useful test is to stop before completing the sixth point and count opposing checkers on the far side. Say which point would close the wall, then show whether every opponent checker would be cut off. A referee would check the board as it stands, not your intention to open the wall later. This is an area where folk descriptions differ, so distinguish the precise Nard Online restriction from a neighbour's familiar but different local convention.

Bearing off, mars and the finish

All fifteen of your checkers must reach your own home board before you start bearing off. On the mover's numbering, home contains points 1 to 6. A die matching a point occupied by a checker can remove a checker from that point. If its exact point is empty, you may need to make a legal move inside home; the usual higher-die bearing-off allowance applies only when no checker occupies a higher point. A checker outside home means the bearing-off phase has not yet begun.

Winning normally scores one. If the loser has not borne off any checker, the owner specification calls the result mars and scores two. Do not insert Western backgammon's separate triple-result outcome into the Nard Online Long Nard scoring page. That belongs to a discussion of other traditions unless the owner confirms a specific app rule. Strategy may favour a mars, but the rulebook should explain the result without suggesting wagering or cash prizes. Nard Online's coins are virtual and have no real-world cash-out value.

Seventeen board disputes, examined carefully

1. The first 6 and 5 from the head

Suppose the head is your 24-point and your first dice are 6 and 5. If 18 and 13 are open, 24/18/13 uses both dice with one checker. It does not require the second checker to leave the head. Now cover 13 with one opposing checker. The second step of that chosen order is not available. Look for another legal order or destination instead of claiming that both dice are automatically lost. The practical question is which steps can actually land, not whether the numbers add to eleven. A head rule is a restriction on departures, not on continuing the first checker.

2. When 6-6 creates an opening exception

Imagine the first turn shows four sixes. An initial departure 24/18 may run into an opponent-occupied 12-point if continued by another six. The owner's opening exception allows a second checker to leave the head when this obstruction prevents completion through the ordinary single departure. Do not infer that two departures are required on every opening 6-6 regardless of the board. Nor may someone save this exception for turn four. Show the exact occupied square before invoking it; the obstruction is part of the rule, not a decorative explanation added afterwards.

3. Why 4-4 needs a board check

Four fours offer four separate four-point movements. On the first turn, the usual path from head toward the opposite head may be interrupted. If that blockage makes the special condition apply, the documented exception can permit a second head departure. At a different moment in the game, 4-4 does not license two departures as an opening favour. A learner should mark the four intended destinations one at a time. This makes it visible where the original checker stopped and why a second departure might be considered. The board position answers the question more reliably than the word 'double'.

4. The 3-3 disagreement

Some traditional tables remember only 6-6 and 4-4 when talking about opening head exceptions. The Nard Online owner rule explicitly includes 3-3 under the same blocking condition. Explain which game is being played, then trace the proposed three-pip steps. Nothing about the number three suspends ordinary restrictions on later turns. If the opponent's occupied point does not obstruct the relevant sequence, the exception should not be used merely to arrange a prettier formation. Write this one down in an event rule sheet before play begins; it is a predictable source of otherwise unnecessary arguments.

5. One checker on the target is enough

Your moving checker is at 18, you roll 5, and the opponent has a single checker on your 13-point. In Long Nard the landing is closed, even though only one enemy checker is there. A Tavla player may instinctively reach over to hit it. That would be a different game. Search for a different five-pip move or a lawful use of the other die. If no legal move exists for a die, follow the mandatory-movement rules rather than remove an opponent's checker. The distinction between a closed landing and a hittable blot deserves emphasis before players move at speed.

6. Can a checker land on its own stack?

Consider a checker on your 19-point, an own checker on 13, and a six. A legal 19/13 move may reinforce the owned point. Long Nard imposes no one-checker limit on points held by the same player. But reinforcing 13 could affect the legality of a proposed wall elsewhere, so do not check landing ownership in isolation. The move remains subject to the head rule if it also involves another checker leaving from 24. The useful lesson is that friendly occupancy is normally allowed, while a legal turn is evaluated as a whole, not as a sequence of disconnected intentions.

7. Two dice are not one magical leap

A checker stands on 18, the roll is 6-4, and both 12 and 8 are open. Going 18/12/8 uses the six then four. If 12 is closed but 14 and 8 are open, 18/14/8 may be legal in the reverse order. If both intermediate possibilities are closed, the apparent ten-pip distance to 8 does not rescue that checker. Each die must lead to a valid landing. Other checkers may still use the roll, so do not decide a whole turn from the failure of one candidate. Drawing the intermediate squares often ends this dispute immediately.

8. What if one number cannot be used?

You show 6 and 2. Several possible two-pip moves are closed, but one six-pip route remains open. The player cannot abandon the six because a short move feels more useful. If only one die can legally be played, the higher playable number governs. If both dice can be used in a sequence, they must normally be used. Evaluate different checkers as well as different orders before announcing that a number is unplayable. This is why casual examples should say which destinations are blocked instead of stating simply that the table was crowded.

9. Doubles do not erase forced play

It is tempting to say that a 5-5 grants an option to make anywhere from zero to four moves. It grants four five-pip movements to the extent that legal play permits them. You cannot intentionally stop after two because the third would weaken a promising point. Test every remaining legal movement. Still, if the board genuinely blocks the other movements, the impossible parts are not invented. In a real game, ask what the third step would be and which occupied point prevents it. A clear explanation beats vague claims of having 'used the double already'.

10. Five points in a row are not six

Suppose you occupy points 17, 16, 15, 14, and 13. That line is a five-point block. The special six-point restriction has not yet been triggered simply by holding five consecutive points. However, the opponent may already have a hard time passing it using available dice. Do not say the five-point block is automatically illegal or impossible to cross. If you plan to occupy 12 next, inspect all opposing checkers before completing the sixth point. Strategy and legality are separate questions: a five-point wall may be clever even when the next strengthening move would be prohibited.

11. Closing the sixth point without checking the far side

Assume your own checkers hold 17 through 13 and you wish to put a checker on 12. The new wall would cover six consecutive points. If all fifteen opposing checkers would remain trapped behind it, the move violates the documented restriction. If an opposing checker has crossed beyond the wall, the specific all-fifteen-trapped objection may no longer apply, though other restrictions still matter. Count actual checkers, not pips or wishes. Someone claiming a passed checker must show its location. This is the exact moment to resolve the question, before confirming the move.

12. The opponent has passed one checker

A player announces that a six-point wall is permitted because one opposing checker has already advanced past the proposed line. Verify that the checker is genuinely beyond the wall in the direction of travel; an opposing checker merely standing at the near edge does not automatically prove passage. Then check whether every destination used to build the wall is otherwise legal. A wall exception never creates a right to land on enemy occupancy. This situation illustrates why a complete position matters. A photograph showing only your wall, without the opposing army, does not settle its legality.

13. One checker remains outside home

Fourteen checkers occupy your home points, while the last sits on your 7-point. You roll a number that would bear off a checker from 4. You still cannot remove the checker from 4 because all fifteen have not reached home. First bring the stray checker into the last quarter through a legal move. Once all fifteen are inside, normal bearing-off rules apply. Counting the fourteen conveniently placed checkers is not enough. The last checker matters even when it is close and even when the opponent has nearly finished the game.

14. An empty exact point at bearing off

All fifteen are home. You roll 5, but the 5-point is empty and at least one checker still stands on 6. You cannot automatically remove a checker from a lower point with the five. A legal movement from a higher point inside home may be necessary. Change the position so that no checker occupies a point above the empty 5-point, and the ordinary over-roll allowance can apply to the highest remaining occupied point. The exact distribution, not merely the total number of checkers in home, determines the proper action.

15. Mars depends on what the loser removed

You finish bearing off all fifteen while your opponent has removed none. That is mars under the Nard Online Long Nard rules, worth two rather than one. Now imagine the opponent has borne off exactly one checker before you finish. The mars condition is gone, even if the opponent's remaining fourteen are badly placed. Do not change the result to three because somebody remembers Western backgammon terminology. Record only the owner-confirmed scoring outcome for this game, and keep any regional variants on their own educational page.

16. What if the connection fails during a match?

A network interruption is not a board-rule exception. Nard Online specifies server-rolled dice and the ability to reconnect and continue at the same board. It also uses a fair turn clock with a time bank, so players should not assume unlimited suspension of time. Once reconnected, judge the current displayed state and the confirmed move, not a remembered roll that may never have been accepted. The app's highlighting and undo before confirmation help check alternatives, but nothing about those tools authorizes extra head departures or illegal walls.

17. A disagreement about starting and house rules

Two regular players disagree over which roll determines the starter and whether an opening double should be re-rolled. The owner specification supplies the gameplay features and the special opening-head exception, but does not spell out every tournament-style starting protocol. Do not manufacture a universal answer for an unprovided detail. Agree on the applicable rulebook before a physical game, and refer any app-specific implementation question to the owner or the verified game interface. For published copy, mark unresolved procedures for approval. Accurate uncertainty is much more useful than a confident but invented instruction.

Expert tips for refereeing a friendly game

Do not adjudicate from an isolated dice total. Ask which variant is active, where the moving checker stands, where each die would land, whether an opponent checker occupies the target, and how the completed turn changes any six-point barrier. If a player uses the head exception, confirm that it is the first turn and that the stated obstruction applies. When bearing off, count all fifteen before removing any. Writing just these five observations beside a disputed move produces an auditable explanation without turning a friendly game into a courtroom.

The practical teaching order matters too. Let new players practise identifying occupied points before calculating long combinations. Next show them a legal head departure and a blocked one. Only then introduce the six-point rule, which requires attention to the entire opposing army rather than one landing point. Close with two bear-off positions differing by a single checker outside home. Those exercises build rule intuition faster than memorising slogans, and they work equally well when observing a live game before joining a table.

Frequently asked questions

1. How many checkers does each player have in Long Nard?

Each player has fifteen. All fifteen begin stacked on that player's head, unlike the distributed opening arrangement in short backgammon. Both sides have a route toward their own home boards. Count fifteen at the beginning and again before judging whether bearing off may begin. If a screenshot appears to show fewer, check whether some checkers are stacked on the same point before assuming any have vanished.

2. Do both players move in the same direction?

Yes. In Long Nard, both move counterclockwise around the board according to the documented game setup. For explanations, number points from the mover's own viewpoint, 24 down toward 1. The opposite player's labels are not interchangeable with yours. If an instruction says 'move six points', calculate six from the moving player's location, not from the nearest visible corner of a diagram.

3. Can I hit an opponent's lone checker?

No. One opposing checker already blocks the destination in Long Nard. Hitting a lone checker and placing it on the bar is a rule of Tavla or short backgammon. If your previous games used hitting, choose the correct variant before applying familiar tactics. The different treatment of a one-checker point can change an otherwise attractive 6-5 into an impossible route.

4. Can two checkers leave the head on every turn?

No. Ordinarily only one checker departs from the head during a turn, regardless of which dice are shown. A previously departed checker may use another die if that continuation is legal. Nard Online documents conditional exceptions on each player's first turn for 6-6, 4-4 and 3-3 when blocking prevents the ordinary sequence. Those exceptions do not transfer to routine later turns.

5. What counts as a double?

A double occurs when both dice show the same face, for instance 4-4. You receive four movements of the shown number, subject to available legal moves. Four fours do not create permission to ignore an enemy-held landing point. Nor does a double normally allow two checkers to leave the head on the same turn. Read the special first-turn condition separately.

6. Must I use both dice?

If legal moves permit it, yes. If only one of the two numbers can be used, the higher playable die takes precedence. For doubles, play as many of the four movements as the position allows. A move that weakens your strategy can still be mandatory. Check alternative checkers and move order before claiming a die cannot be played.

7. Are six consecutive occupied points always illegal?

No. The owner restriction concerns a six-point barrier that traps all fifteen opposing checkers. Whether an opposing checker has already passed beyond it is material. A proposed sixth point may also fail because its landing is enemy-occupied or another rule is violated. Count actual opposing checker positions before declaring the wall lawful or unlawful.

8. When may I begin bearing off?

Only after all fifteen checkers are inside your own home board, points 1 to 6 from your perspective. A single checker on point 7 prevents bearing off, even if fourteen checkers are already home. Check the exact dice number and the distribution of higher checkers when deciding whether an over-roll can remove the furthest remaining checker.

9. What is mars in Long Nard?

Mars is the result when the winner bears off all fifteen and the loser has not borne off any checker. It scores two in the Nard Online Long Nard specification. A standard win scores one. Do not import an unconfirmed three-point outcome from another backgammon variant. A player who removed even one checker before losing is not marsed under the stated condition.

10. Do I need a doubling cube in Long Nard?

No. A doubling cube is a feature of Tavla Modern in Nard Online, not Long Nard. The word 'doubles' on dice refers to matching die faces and is unrelated to cube ownership. Tavla Classic also has no cube. Keeping the two concepts apart helps avoid confusing four movements from a 6-6 roll with a change in match stakes.

11. Can I practise these rules without internet?

Nard Online specifies offline bot play at Easy, Medium and Hard, along with Pass & Play on one device. Those options let adults rehearse head departures and bearing off without finding a remote opponent. Online Quick Match and private rooms use connected play. The full browser game is at /play/. The submitted mobile releases should not be described as already downloadable until their status is confirmed.

12. Do different countries use exactly the same rules?

Related Long Nard reading

Build on each answer with a more focused guide. These links describe the current rule set and distinct neighbouring topics, not replacement rules for the same position.

Long Nard rules; Head and opening exceptions; Long Nard strategy; Opening playbook; Tavla rules; Backgammon variants; Long and Short comparison; Nard glossary; Traditional dice names; Nard history; Nard FAQ; Nard Online app; Ways to play online; Dice probabilities.

Summary

The most reliable Long Nard referee uses the board as evidence. Identify the active variant, trace each die to a legal landing, check the head departure count, and inspect both sides before completing a sixth blocked point. Bear off only after every checker reaches home. Normal wins score one, mars scores two. The full Long Nard rules and head and opening rules supply the next level of detail.