By Valentin Updated rules variants nardy
In long nardy both players start with all fifteen checkers on one point, the head, and move them in the same direction around the board; there is no hitting, and a single checker is enough to hold a point. You may take only one checker off the head per turn, except on your first roll with 3-3, 4-4 or 6-6, and you may never build six blocked points in a row unless at least one enemy checker is already in front of them.
Orion plays the international rules, known across the Russian-speaking world as short nardy, and long nardy is not a mode in the app. This page is here because long nardy is the game most players from Moscow to Baku grew up on, and its rules are worth knowing properly even if your online games are the short kind.
The other regional games are compared side by side in our tour of backgammon variants.
Every Orion guide to the short game, from the setup to the cube, is listed on the Learn page.
Russian readers will find the same rules, written in Russian from the first line, in our long nardy guide in Russian.
How is the long nardy board set up?
There is almost nothing to set up. Each player stacks all fifteen checkers on a single corner point called the head (golova in Russian). The two heads sit in diagonally opposite corners: if White's head is on the right of the far side, Black's is on the left of the near side.
Each player rolls one die and the higher number goes first, and in Russian practice that player takes White. In a longer session the colours alternate, so neither player keeps the first move.
Which way do the checkers move?
Both players move anticlockwise, in the same direction, which is the single biggest difference from short nardy. Each checker travels the whole board, through the opponent's starting quarter, around to the quarter just before its own head, which is its home. Because both sides chase each other around the same circuit, the game is decided by who blocks whom, not by who hits whom.
How do moves work in long nardy?
Roll two dice and play each number with any checker, or both numbers with one checker if the point it passes through is open. Doubles are played four times. You must use the whole roll if any legal move allows it, and if only one number can be played it must be the higher one when that is possible. A roll you cannot play at all is simply lost.
The key rule: you can never land on a point that holds even one enemy checker. A single checker owns its point, which is why blocking in long nardy is cheap and why the opening is a quiet fight for space.
What is the head rule?
Only one checker may leave the head per turn. The rule stops a player from pouring checkers out early and smothering the board, and it is what makes long nardy a game of patience.
There is one exception, on the first roll of the game only. With 6-6, 4-4 or 3-3 you may take two checkers off the head, because with one checker alone the roll would run into the opponent's head and be largely wasted. From the second turn on, the one-checker rule applies to every roll, doubles included.
What is the six-block rule?
Six points in a row held by one player form a block that nothing behind it can pass, because no die moves a checker more than six points. Long nardy allows that block only if at least one of the opponent's checkers is already in front of it. Building a six-block with all fifteen enemy checkers trapped behind it is illegal, so the wall can slow an opponent but never imprison them completely.
How do you bear off in long nardy?
Once all fifteen of your checkers are in your home quarter you start taking them off. A die removes a checker from the matching point. If that point is empty you must move a checker down from a higher point, and if there is no checker higher than the number rolled you remove one from the highest occupied point. It works the same way as bearing off in the short game, minus the risk of being hit on the way out.
How is long nardy scored?
The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins. If the loser has borne off at least one checker, the win is an oin (ойн) and scores one point. If the loser has borne off none, it is a mars (марс) and scores two.
You will also hear about the koks and the home mars, bigger wins when the loser's checkers are stranded far from home. Both Russian and English reference works describe these as informal table rules rather than part of federation play, so agree on them before you start. Under Nard Federation tournament rules a game can even end in a draw, if Black bears off the last checker on the turn after White has finished.
What is the difference between long and short nardy?
- Start: long nardy stacks all fifteen checkers on the head; short nardy, which is backgammon, spreads them over four points.
- Direction: long nardy moves both sides the same way; short nardy moves them in opposite directions.
- Contact: long nardy has no hitting and one checker holds a point; short nardy hits lone checkers and needs two to hold a point.
- Stakes: long nardy scores oin and mars; short nardy adds the backgammon and, in serious play, the doubling cube.
The closest cousin of long nardy is Greek fevga, which uses almost the same start and the same no-hitting rule. Players who know one pick up the other in a game or two.
Can I play long nardy in Orion?
No. Orion plays short nardy, the international backgammon rules, with hitting, the cube and match play, and that is the only game in the app. In Russian-speaking markets the app is listed as Orion Нарды for that reason: it is the short game under its local name. If you are looking for a long nardy app instead, our notes on choosing a backgammon app list what to check in any of them.
Practise the short game in a real match: Orion is free on iPhone and Android, and every roll can be checked at orion.arthea.ai/verify.