Hi
I am looking for help with the following situation I faced when bearing off. I have not been able to find a definitive ruling.

I am in the process of bearing off and now have checkers on the following points;

2 on Point 6; 0 on Point 5; 3 on Point 4; 2 on Point 3 and 2 on Point 2 My Opponent has an Anchor Block on my Point 1 (2 checkers)

My Question is this;

I roll a 6-5. I use the 6 to take off one checker from the 6 Point. (Leaves 1 there)

Now I have the 5 dice left. I have no checker on 5 and I can't make an internal move with the checker from the 6 Point because of the block on my 1 Point.

How do I use the 5 dice. Can I remove the checker on my 6 Point as it's my highest occupied Point? Or can I remove one checker from the 4 Point? Or can I do nothing because of the checker still on my 6 Point and not able to move?

Hope someone can clarify this situation for me.

With a 6 you can only bear off from the 6 point, with a 5 only from the 5 point etc. The only exception is: When you roll x and you have no checker on the x point or higher then you are allowed to bear off a checker from the highest point.

In your example the exception is not fulfilled. Therefore you can't bear off from the 6 point and you can't bear off from the 4 point. Your only option is to move the checker from the 6 point to the 1 point. If that is impossible because of the anchor you can't move and it's the turn of the opponent.

Oh thank you so much for clarifying that for me. I had thought that might be the case as that was my understanding too.

But as I am fairly new to the game when I found myself in that situation I looked up resources just to checki for a ruling and I read one resource that stated you could remove one from your highest occupied point - I then over-thought the situation, doubted my understanding and got confused. Us newbies are like that......

You have really helped me out - Thanks!!

I know now where to come to get reliable, accurate information. A fabulous resource!!