How to play Yut Nori

By Ari Hlynsson · 1 player vs computer, or 2 online · Updated 11 September 2026

Be the first to move all four of your pieces onto the board, round the track, and off again past the start corner, using the throws of four sticks and the shortcuts through the middle.

The rules, step by step

1. 1

   Tap the sticks to throw. Count the flat sides: one flat is do and moves one, two is gae for two, three is geol for three, four is yut for four, and all four round is mo for five.

2. 2

   A yut or a mo earns another throw, taken at once. Keep throwing until you are owed nothing, then spend the throws.

3. 3

   Each throw waiting to be spent is a button. Choose one, then tap a piece to move it that many stations, or bring a new piece on from the start. Any throw may go to any piece, in any order.

4. 4

   A piece that ends its move on a corner takes the diagonal through the middle on its next move. A piece that ends on the middle takes the short way home. Passing through a corner without stopping keeps to the outside.

5. 5

   Land on your own piece and the two stack: they move as one from then on. Land on the other side and every piece there goes back to the start, and you earn another throw.

6. 6

   A piece is off the board once it passes the start corner. No exact throw is needed. The first side to get all four pieces off wins.

Tips that change how you play

• Aim for the corners, not past them. A piece that ends on the second corner takes the diagonal and is home in about half the distance. Spend a smaller throw to land exactly on one before you spend the big throw on the piece behind it.
• Spend the throws in the order that lands somewhere useful, not the order they came. A do and a geol are a four either way, but a do first can put a piece on a corner that a geol first would step past.
• Stack where you are safe and stay apart where you are not. Two pieces on one station move for one throw, which is a gift, and go home together from one capture, which is a disaster. A stack sitting five stations in front of an opponent is the disaster.

Two throws, and the order they go in

You have a piece on station three and one on station eight. You throw gae, then yut, and the yut earns another throw, which comes up do. So you have three throws to spend: two, four and one. Spend them in the order they came and the piece on three goes to five with the gae, which is the second corner, and that is good; then the four takes it down the diagonal to the middle, which is also good. But the piece on eight is still sitting where the other side can reach it. Try it the other way. The do takes the piece on eight to nine, the gae takes it to eleven and the yut takes it to fifteen, the fourth corner, safe from anything behind it and set to come home along the last side. The piece on three has not moved, but it was not in danger. Same three throws, and one order moves a piece out of trouble while the other leaves it there.

Mistakes that cost beginners the game

Bringing a new piece on when a piece already out could have taken the shortcut.

A piece on the board is a piece at risk, and the way to make it safe is to get it home. A throw that lands one of yours on a corner or the middle is worth more than a throw that starts another journey from the beginning.

Leaving a piece one to five stations in front of an opponent.

Every throw is between one and five, so every station within five of an enemy piece is one they can land on, and mo and yut earn them another throw to follow up with. Count the gap before you leave a piece standing, and move the piece that is in range before the one that is not.

Stopping on the start corner and thinking you are home.

A piece on the start corner is still on the board and can still be captured. It needs one more throw of any size to go off, and until then it is the most exposed piece you have. Wherever you can, pass the corner rather than land on it.

Common questions about Yut Nori