Hitting a Blot in Backgammon: Blots and the Bar

A checker standing alone can be hit, and a hit sends it all the way back to the start of its journey. Hitting is how you set your opponent back.

Step 1 of 5

Blots
A checker alone on a point is a blot. Two or more checkers together make a point, and a point can't be hit.

The stars mark the blots here. White has split its two back checkers, so it has one alone on your 1-point and one alone on your 5-point. You have a blot of your own on your 9-point.
Hit a blot
Land on a blot and you hit it: the checker comes off its point and goes onto the bar, the strip down the middle of the board. Your roll of 4-2 here can hit one of White's blots.
Your move
Hit White's blot on your 5-point.
The bar
White's hit checker now waits on the bar. Before White can move anything else, that checker has to come back in on your home board, the quarter where it started the game, and then travel the whole way round again. Being hit costs White all the ground that checker had covered.

Your checkers face the same when they are hit: they come back in on White's home board, your 19- to 24-points. The next lesson shows how.
Hit with both dice
A blot farther away can be hit with both dice together, as long as the point in between is open. White has a blot on your 15-point, nine points from your back checkers.
Your move
Hit the blot on your 15-point.
Which checkers are at risk?
Back to the position after your first hit. White is to roll, with its checker on the bar.

Which of your checkers could White hit?
Question

What you learned

A checker alone on a point is a blot. Two or more make a point, which can't be hit.
Land on a blot to hit it: the hit checker goes to the bar.
A checker on the bar has to come back in before its side moves anything else, and it starts its journey again.
You can hit with both dice together when the point in between is open.