Long narde rules
- Uzun Nard
- Длинные нарды
- Μακρύ Νάρδι
- Дълга нарда
- النرد الطويل
- Lange Narde
- Narde lungi
- Довгі нарди
Long narde — длинные нарды — is the backgammon of Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Both players run the same way round the board from diagonally opposite heads, nothing is ever hit, and the whole game is a pure race under two famous restraints: one checker from the head per turn, and no six-point wall the opponent is not already past.
- Point 12: 15 × Black
- Point 24: 15 × White
- Pips White: 360
- Pips Black: 360
The starting position
All fifteen checkers start stacked on the head — your corner point; the two heads lie diagonally opposite. Both sides run the same way round the board towards their own home quarter, the final six points of their path.
The first roll
Each player rolls one die; the higher one starts and plays exactly those two numbers. A tie is rolled again — so the first turn of a game is never a double.
Rolling and moving
Two dice, exact numbers, always forward round the ring; a double is played four times. You must play every number you legally can, and the higher one when only one of the two fits.
One checker holds a point
A single checker owns its point: the opponent may neither land on it nor pass through it as part of a combined move. Nothing is ever hit, and there is no bar.
The head rule
Only one checker may leave the head per turn. Your very first turn is the one exception: 6-6, 4-4 and 3-3 release two — with exactly those three doubles a single checker would run into the opponent's head and stop halfway, so the roll would otherwise be half wasted.
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- Point 12: 15 × Black
- Point 24: 15 × White
- Pips White: 360
- Pips Black: 360
1 All fifteen checkers stand on the head. White opens. -
Last move White: 24/13
- Point 12: 15 × Black
- Point 13: 1 × White
- Point 24: 14 × White
- Pips White: 349
- Pips Black: 360
2 White rolls 6–5. Exactly one move is legal: 24/13.
Six in a row
You may not hold six points in a row unless at least one opposing checker is already ahead of the wall. Sealing all fifteen opposing checkers behind a block is forbidden.
Bearing off
Once all fifteen have reached your home quarter — the last six points of your path — you bear off: each number takes a checker from the point it names, and a number higher than your highest occupied point bears off from that one. Bearing off is never compulsory.
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- Point 1: 1 × White
- Point 2: 1 × White
- Point 3: 1 × White
- Point 4: 2 × White
- Point 5: 2 × White
- Point 6: 2 × White
- Point 13: 3 × Black
- Point 14: 3 × Black
- Point 15: 3 × Black
- Point 16: 2 × Black
- Point 17: 2 × Black
- Point 18: 2 × Black
- Borne off White: 6
- Pips White: 36
- Pips Black: 48
1 White has every checker home; six are already off. -
Last move White: 6/off 5/off
- Point 1: 1 × White
- Point 2: 1 × White
- Point 3: 1 × White
- Point 4: 2 × White
- Point 5: 1 × White
- Point 6: 1 × White
- Point 13: 3 × Black
- Point 14: 3 × Black
- Point 15: 3 × Black
- Point 16: 2 × Black
- Point 17: 2 × Black
- Point 18: 2 × Black
- Borne off White: 8
- Pips White: 25
- Pips Black: 48
2 White rolls 6–5 and plays 6/off 5/off.
Scoring
One point for the win — two, the mars, if the loser has borne off nothing. There is no cube in long narde.
The basics of strategy
Nothing is ever hit — the whole game is a race with blockades. Two rules shape it: only one checker may leave the head per turn, and six consecutive points may only be held once an opposing checker is already in front of the block. That is where the tension comes from — taking checkers off the head early costs distance, and taking them off late means running a clump at a finished wall.
Culture and vocabulary
Длинные нарды is the backgammon of Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia — in courtyards, on park benches, in every tea house. The language separates the two cleanly: короткие нарды, short narde, is backgammon; длинные нарды, long narde, is this game. Somebody in the region who simply says “нарды” usually means this one.
Quick answers
- How is long narde different from short narde?
- Long narde has no hitting at all. All fifteen checkers start on a single point, the head, both players run the same way round the board, and a lone checker already closes its point completely. Short narde is backgammon: four starting points, opposing paths, hitting and a bar.
- How many checkers may leave the head in one move?
- One per move. The single exception is your very first move: on 6-6, 4-4 and 3-3 two checkers may leave, because with exactly those doubles one checker would land in the opponent's head and half the roll would go to waste.
- May you block your opponent in completely?
- No. You may hold six points in a row only while at least one enemy checker stands ahead of the wall. Walling in all fifteen of your opponent's checkers is forbidden.