Portes Tavli — Rules, Setup & Bearing Off

Starting Position

In Portes each player starts with 15 checkers in the classic arrangement: 2 on the 24-point, 5 on the 13-point, 3 on the 8-point, and 5 on the 6-point. The two players move in opposite directions.

The starting position is designed for immediate tension: you have checkers forward for attack but also stragglers in the back that need to reach home safely.

Hitting and the Bar

A checker standing alone on a point is a blot. Your opponent can land on it, hit it, and send it to the bar.

While you have a checker on the bar you must re-enter it on the opponent's side of the board before making any other move. If all those points are closed, you forfeit your turn.

• A blot (single checker) can be hit.
• A point with 2+ checkers cannot be hit.
• A hit checker must re-enter before any other move is made.

Bearing Off

You can only start bearing off once all your checkers are in the last quadrant (your home board). From there, each die removes a checker from the corresponding point.

If you get hit while bearing off, you stop and must bring the checker back home before continuing. That's why racing alone isn't enough — you need to bear off with as few gaps as possible.

Gammon and Scoring

If you finish while your opponent has borne off at least one checker, you win a single point. If they have borne off none, you win a gammon — a double victory.

In multi-game matches this difference matters a lot. Sometimes it is worth playing more defensively to avoid being gammoned, even when the game looks lost.

Forced Moves and Impossible Rolls

You must always play both dice if a legal move exists. You cannot choose to play only one die if both are playable. If you can play only one of the two dice, you must play the higher one.

Example: you roll 5-3. You can play the 5 but not the 3 afterward, or the 3 but not the 5 afterward. You must play the 5 (the higher die), even if it leaves you in a worse position. If you cannot play either die, you forfeit your turn.

Special case in bearing off: if your die is higher than the highest occupied point, you bear off from that highest point. E.g. your only checker is on the 3-point and you roll a 5 — the checker bears off from the 3-point.

Closed Home Board

If you close all 6 points of your home board (1-point through 6-point), the opponent cannot re-enter from the bar. This is an extremely powerful advantage — every hit now is almost punishing.

The challenge: to close your home board you need 12 checkers (2 per point) in 6 points. This means the other 3 checkers must be elsewhere — usually attacking or on the bar.

Even a partially closed home board (4–5 closed points) significantly increases the opponent's difficulty re-entering. Plan to close your home board before hitting — if you hit with an open home board, the opponent re-enters easily.