Backgammon strategy for beginners

Luck decides a single roll. Strategy decides most evenings. A handful of plain ideas will carry you a long way.

If the board is still new, start with how to play. If you want to know what to do with the very first roll, the page on opening moves has every one in a table. This page is the part in between: what to aim for once the checkers start moving.

Count the race

The pip count is how far you still have to travel. Take each of your checkers and multiply it by the number of the point it sits on. A checker on your 13 point is 13 pips. A checker on the bar is 25. Add them up. Both players start at 167.

You do not need it on every turn. You need it when you are deciding whether to race or to wait. A lead of about ten percent is a good race lead. Less than that and the dice can still turn it around. Keep the point numbers on while you learn to count. It makes the sums much quicker.

You do not have to do the sums by hand, either. Double Nines can show you who leads the race and by how much, so you can spend your thinking on the decision instead of the arithmetic. Count it yourself now and then, and check your number against the table. That is how the habit forms.

Blots, and when they are worth it

A blot is a single checker, and a blot can be hit. That does not mean every blot is a mistake. Early in the game, a blot is often how a new point gets made next turn.

Distance matters most. A blot six pips from an enemy checker is hit by 17 of the 36 rolls. Seven pips away, only 6 rolls hit it. So if you must leave a blot, leave it more than six pips away when you can. Two blots in reach are worse than one. A blot in your own home, where a hit costs you little travel, is cheaper than a blot near the far end of the board.

Ask one question before you leave a blot. If it is hit, how much do I lose? If the answer is a few pips, go ahead and build. If the answer is the game, play safe.

Make points, and the best ones first

Two checkers on a point make it yours. A point you own is a place the other player cannot land. Some points matter more than others.

• Your 5 point is the best one on the board. It blocks their back checkers and helps build your home.
• Your 4 point is next, then your bar point, the 7.
• Points deep in your home, like the 1 and the 2, are worth little early on. Checkers there are out of play.

The easiest way to make a point is with two checkers that already sit the right distance from it. A 3-1 at the start makes your 5 point, for example: one checker from the 8, one from the 6.

Build a prime

A prime is a row of points in a line. Six in a row is a full prime. A checker behind it cannot get past, whatever the dice say. Four or five in a row is still a strong wall, and it keeps their checkers stuck while you bring yours home.

Build the wall in front of their back checkers, from your 8 point down through your 4. Then roll it forward, one point at a time, toward your home.

Build your home board

When you hit a checker, it has to come back in on your home board. Every point you own there is a number they cannot use. With three or four home points made, a hit is a real threat. With all six, the board is closed. They cannot come in at all, and they lose their turns until you open a point.

That is why hitting gets stronger as your home grows. Early on, a hit is a small gain. With a strong home board, a hit can win the game.

Run, or hold

Your two back checkers start on the far 24 point. Sooner or later you must decide what to do with them.

If you are ahead in the race, run. Bring the back checkers home and turn it into a plain race you are likely to win. A 6-5 at the start does exactly that with one of them.

If you are behind, hold. Keep two checkers together on a point near their home, called an anchor. Their 5 point or their 4 point, your 20 or 21, is the best place for it. An anchor cannot be hit, and it waits for a shot as they bring their checkers home past you. Do not break it too early. Patience wins a lot of these.

A safe bear-off

Once every checker is home, you can start taking them off. In a pure race, take a checker off whenever you can. When the other player still has a checker on the bar or an anchor in your home, safety comes first.

• Clear points from the back. Empty your 6 point first, then the 5, and so on.
• Avoid gaps. A gap behind your checkers is how an awkward number forces you to leave a blot.
• Keep an even number of checkers on your highest points when you can, so a single die does not leave one alone.
• If every play leaves a blot, leave the one that is hit by the fewest numbers.

Once your checkers are home and nothing of theirs can hit you, the rest is only counting. Auto bear off appears at the top and takes them off for you, roll by roll. And when a game is already decided against you, there is no need to play it out. You may resign and set up the next one.

Practice at the table

Ideas sink in faster at a board. The daily puzzle is one real position and one roll, with a hint and a suggested line, and a coach tells you whether you found it. Jade is a gentle opponent for trying things out. Ember plays the way a club night feels. Drake looks further ahead. If a hop was the wrong one and the dice are still sitting there, you can take that hop back and try another.

Start with the first roll. The opening moves page shows the standard play for all fifteen. The rules themselves are on how to play.

Ready for a game? Pull up a chair and play free at playd9.com. There are no ads and no account to make. The table waits while you think.