Can a game of backgammon get stuck?

Chess has stalemates. Draughts can end in a draw. So it's a fair question: can a game of backgammon reach a position where nothing can happen and nobody can win?

No. And the reason is worth a minute of your time.

What a real deadlock would need

For the game to freeze completely, both players would have to be unable to move at all.

There's only one way that happens. You'd need both players to have a checker on the bar at the same time, and both home boards closed, every one of the six points held by the other side. A checker on the bar must enter before anything else moves, so if it can't enter, your whole turn is forfeited.

Two closed boards, two checkers on the bar, nobody able to move. Permanent stalemate.

Why it can't happen

Here's the catch. To put your opponent on the bar, you have to hit them. To hit them, you have to move a checker. And if your own board is closed while you have a checker on the bar, you can't move anything at all.

So the player who would have to do the hitting is precisely the player who can't.

Two other rules keep things moving

Even without that, the game is built to end.

You can't pass. If there's a legal move available, you must play it. There's no option to sit still and wait for something better, which is what makes stalemates possible in other games.

Checkers only go forwards. Nobody can retreat, so every turn moves the race along. Backgammon has no draws at all: somebody always gets there.

What does feel like a deadlock

Plenty of positions feel stuck without being stuck.

Closed out. Your checker sits on the bar while your opponent holds all six home points. You genuinely cannot move, sometimes for many turns. But they can't hold that board forever: as they bring checkers home and bear off, they have to break it, and then you're back in.

Mutual holding games. Both sides hold a point in front of the other and neither wants to move first. It feels like a staring contest, but both players are still forced to move something each turn, and eventually one of those moves breaks the tension.

Back games. One player deliberately holds two anchors deep in the other's home board and waits. Slow, not stuck.

In every case, the thing that resolves it is the same: you must move, and you can only move forwards.

The short version

• A true stalemate needs both players on the bar with both home boards closed.
• That can't arise, because a player who is closed out on the bar can't hit anybody.
• You must play a legal move if one exists. There's no passing.
• Checkers only move forwards, so the race always progresses.
• Backgammon has no draws.
• Closeouts, mutual holding games and back games feel stuck, but all of them break.