Portes rules: setup, hitting and bearing off

An illustrated guide to Greek backgammon, including bar entry, compulsory dice and one- or two-point wins.

Revised: 14 September 2026

Set up the board

Each player has fifteen checkers. Your goal is to bring them all into your home board and then bear them off before your opponent. The twenty-four triangular spaces are called points. They form four groups of six.

Using each player's own numbering, place two checkers on 24, five on 13, three on 8 and five on 6. Move toward your own point 1. The players travel in opposite directions.

The diagrams keep White's numbers fixed: White moves 24→1, while Black moves 1→24. White's home is 1–6; Black's home is 19–24. All numbered examples below follow White.

Starting Portes board with both players' checker counts and directions — Initial position. White: 2 on 24, 5 on 13, 3 on 8, 5 on 6. Black: 2 on 1, 5 on 12, 3 on 17, 5 on 19. View full size.

Who starts?

For the first game, each player rolls one die. Ties are rerolled. The higher roller starts by rolling two fresh dice; the opening contest is not the first playable roll. In a continuing match, the winner of the previous game starts the next. Here, a drawn game and a new rematch both lead to a fresh opening contest.

How to use the dice

A roll of 5 and 1 gives one five-point move and one one-point move. You may move two checkers or move the same checker twice. In the latter case, both the intermediate point and the final point must be legal. You cannot jump a blocked landing by treating the dice as a single six.

Use both dice when possible. Look at both orders. You cannot choose a move that wastes a die if another legal sequence uses both.
If only one die can be used, use the higher one when either value is individually playable. If only the lower value is legal, use that one.
Doubles give four moves. A 3–3 provides four threes. Play all four if possible, otherwise the greatest number the position allows.
Pass only when no move is legal. A bad-looking move is still compulsory if it is the only legal one.

For example, White has one checker on 7 and rolls 2 and 1. Two Black checkers on 6 prevent playing the 1 first. The route 7→5→4 is legal if 5 and 4 are open. The same final point does not make 7→6→4 legal.

White on point 4 after using 2 then 1 around a blocked point 6 — After White plays 7→5 with the 2, then 5→4 with the 1. Fourteen White checkers are already off; Black's two checkers on 6 block the opposite order. View full size.

Closed points and hitting

You can land on an empty point, a point holding your own checkers, or a point with one opposing checker. Two or more opposing checkers form a closed point, often called a door. You may move past it, but cannot land there with either die.

A lone checker is exposed. Landing on it sends it to the central bar and replaces it with your checker. This is a hit. A single White checker left behind can be hit on Black's turn in exactly the same way.

White checker on point 5 and the hit Black checker on the bar — After White uses a remaining 3 to move 8→5, the lone Black checker from 5 is on the bar. A second Black checker on 5 would have made this landing illegal. View full size.

Re-enter before moving other checkers

While you have any checkers on the bar, you must bring them back into the opponent's home board first. For White, a 1 enters on 24, a 2 on 23, and so on through a 6 on 19. The entry point must be open; entering onto a lone opponent hits it.

If two checkers are on the bar, entering one does not release your other checkers while the second remains there. Enter as many as the dice permit. If none can enter, pass. Once the last checker is back, use any remaining dice with that checker or another, subject to the usual rules.

White on point 21 after entering on 24 and continuing with a 3 — One legal turn with a single White checker on the bar: enter on 24 with a 1, then move 24→21 with a 3. The other fourteen White checkers are on 6. View full size.

Bearing off

You may start removing checkers when every checker you still have on the board is in your home board. Checkers already borne off stay out. In your own numbering, home consists of points 1–6.

An exact die can remove a checker from the matching point: a 4 can bear off from your 4-point.
You may use that die for another legal move instead, provided you still meet the compulsory-dice rules.
An oversized die may remove a checker only from your farthest occupied point. With checkers on your 5- and 2-points, a 6 can remove from 5, but not from 2.

Using the most dice still comes first. With fourteen checkers already off, one on your 3-point and a roll of 1 and 3, play 3→2 with the 1, then bear off with the 3. Removing the last checker directly with the 3 would leave a playable die unused.

Your bar must also be empty. If you are hit while bearing off, first re-enter the hit checker and bring it home before removing any more. The checkers already off are unaffected.

White's last checker borne off after moving from 6 to 2 — With fourteen White checkers already off, a 4 and 2 can finish the game as 6→2→off. Playing 6→4→off in the opposite die order is also legal. View full size.

Winning and points

Bearing off all fifteen checkers wins the game. You score 1 point if the opponent has borne off at least one checker, or 2 points if they have borne off none. The two-point win is called mars, or gammon. There is no three-point backgammon and no doubling cube.

You can play this game on its own or as part of Trio, a cycle of Portes, Plakoto and Fevga.

For the controls and other games, see the Tavli beginner's guide. Rule reference: Backgammon Galore: Portes. The general bearing-off explanation also covers exact and oversized dice; its doubling and three-point scoring rules do not apply here.