The bar point: your 7-point, and the wall it startsBeginner
The bar point is your 7-point, the one directly beside the bar. It is the third of the three points every opening tries to make, and the reason is entirely about geometry: it sits exactly where your opponent's back checkers need to pass.
Where it sits and why that matters
Your 8-point and 6-point are made from the opening position without any effort. The 7-point sits between them. Making it gives you three consecutive points, and consecutive points are worth far more than the same number scattered, because a checker escaping from the back has to jump the whole wall in one die.
The six is the limit
No die shows more than six. That single fact is the foundation of all blocking play in backgammon. A wall of six consecutive points cannot be jumped at all, and every point you add to a wall makes the jump rarer. The bar point is usually the second or third brick in that wall.
Why 6-1 is an automatic play
The opening roll 6-1 plays 13/7 8/7, making the bar point immediately with no blot left. Nobody disputes it. It is worth understanding why: you already own the 6 and 8 points, so the 7-point completes a three-point wall on move one, and it costs nothing.
How a wall actually traps a checker
Work it from the die faces. A checker sitting directly behind three consecutive made points has three of the six faces dead to it, because those numbers land on points it cannot occupy. Add a fourth consecutive point and only two faces play. At six consecutive points there is no face left at all: a full six-prime cannot be jumped by any single die, so a checker behind it cannot move until the prime breaks. Every brick you add to the wall takes another number away, which is why builders aimed at consecutive points are worth more than builders aimed at scattered ones.
When the bar point is the wrong point
The bar point blocks and nothing else. A home board point does double duty: it blocks escape and it contains checkers you hit, because a player on the bar has to enter past it. So when the choice is genuinely between the bar point and the 5-point or 4-point, and especially when your opponent already has a checker on the bar, the home board point usually wins. The reason 6-1 is automatic is not that the bar point is the best point in the game. It is that 6-1 offers you the bar point for free, with no blot and no alternative worth comparing.
The numbers, computed
Every figure below is enumerated over all 36 ordered outcomes of two dice, not quoted from a table. Shot counts assume the intervening points are open.
| Situation | Rolls that work | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting a blot 6 pips away | 17 of 36 | 47.2% |
Hitting a blot 6 pips away: Indirect shot: it needs two dice combined.
What most players get wrong
The bar point is just another point, and the 5-point is better, so prioritise the 5-point always.
The 5-point is indeed more valuable in isolation, but points are not valued in isolation. Because you start owning the 6 and 8, the bar point is the cheapest way to build consecutive points, and consecutive points are what actually trap checkers. Value depends on what you already own, which is why the same point is worth different amounts at different moments.
Play a rated game and every decision gets reviewed afterwards against the best move available. The dice are committed before you roll and checkable after, so the number you end up with is a measure of you, not of luck.
Play a rated game freeFrequently asked questions
What is the bar point in backgammon?
The bar point is your 7-point, directly beside the bar. Making it gives you three consecutive points with the 6-point and 8-point you already own.
Why is the bar point valuable?
It forms part of a consecutive wall. No die is larger than six, so each additional consecutive point makes it harder for a trapped checker to escape in a single move.
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