How to count pips in backgammon: the pip count made easy

A pip is one point of movement: a roll of 6-3 moves your checkers 9 pips in all. Your pip count is the total number of pips your checkers still have to travel to bear off. It's the length of your race, in one number.

Counting it takes one rule: each checker is worth the number of the point it stands on, counted from your own side. A checker on your 6-point needs 6 pips to bear off, one on your 13-point needs 13. Add them up for all your checkers, and you have your count. Two details complete the rule:

• A checker on the bar counts 25. It has to enter on your opponent's home board, your 19- to 24-point, and come all the way round again.
• A checker borne off counts 0. It has nothing left to travel.

Your opponent counts the same way, from their side. Their checker on your N-point stands on their (25 − N)-point: a checker of theirs on your 20-point is on their 5-point and counts 5 for them. The lower count is ahead in the race.

Both players start a game with exactly the same count, 167 pips. The starting position explains why: 15 checkers on four points.

It's worth knowing by heart, because it gives you a check on any running count: after the opening roll, the player who moved is 167 minus the roll, and every later count should be in the same range until hits start sending checkers back.

Other games on the same board start elsewhere: in nackgammon, a variant with four back checkers, each player starts at 194 pips. See backgammon variants.

You don't need to be good at mental arithmetic. You need a method you can repeat in a few seconds without mistakes. Four are enough for every position.

1. Point by point: checkers times points

The basic method. For each point, multiply the number of checkers by the point's number, then add the results. At the start: 2 × 24 + 5 × 13 + 3 × 8 + 5 × 6 = 48 + 65 + 24 + 30 = 167. Always count in the same order, from your 24-point down to your 1-point, so you never skip or repeat a point.

2. Group checkers into round numbers

Adding 6 + 4 + 3 + 3 + 9 + 11 is where errors creep in. Group checkers whose points make a round number and add tens: two checkers on your 3-point and one on your 4-point make 10; a checker on your 9-point and one on your 11-point make 20. The fewer odd numbers you carry, the fewer mistakes you make.

3. Count only the difference

Most of the time, you only need to know who is ahead and by how much, not the two full counts. Cancel out checkers that mirror each other, the same number of checkers on the same point on each side (your two checkers on your 8-point against their two on their 8-point), and count only what's left. The difference between what's left is the difference between the full counts. It's the fastest method in a race, because both home boards often look alike.

4. Keep a running count

Count once, then update: subtract each roll from the count of the player who played it, and add the pips lost when a checker is hit (the table in the next section gives the exact amounts). It's precise and quick when the game is calm, but one forgotten roll spoils every later number, so check it with a full count from time to time.

Contact is broken: no checker can be hit any more, and the game is a pure race. Each side's checkers are listed from its own side of the board.

Point by point: your count is 11 + 9 + 16 + 24 + 15 + 8 + 6 = 89; your opponent's is 13 + 16 + 24 + 15 + 12 + 4 = 84. Your opponent leads by 5 pips.

By the difference: both sides have 2 checkers on their 8-point, 4 on their 6-point and 3 on their 5-point. Cancel those. You're left with 11 + 9 + 8 + 6 = 34, your opponent with 13 + 12 + 4 = 29: the same 5-pip difference, with half the arithmetic.

What does 5 pips mean? An average roll moves 8⅙ pips (the 36 rolls), so 5 pips is a little over half a roll. That's a close race, and the next sections show what else to look at.

The count moves every turn. Knowing by how much is what makes a running count possible, and it shows at a glance what a hit is worth in the race.

Two lines matter most. A hit on your N-point costs your opponent exactly N pips, so a hit far from your home board can swing the race by two or three rolls (see what a hit really does). And in the bear-off, a die bigger than the checker's point wastes the difference: a 6 that bears off a checker from your 4-point only takes 4 pips off your count.

The raw difference is only the start. Three adjustments turn it into a real judgment of the race.

1. Think in rolls, not pips

Divide the lead by 8, roughly an average roll: a 16-pip lead is about two rolls, a 4-pip lead about half a roll. It also tells you how long the race is: a count of 84 is a little more than 10 average rolls of movement.

2. Compare the lead with the length of the race

The same lead tends to matter more in a short race. Ten pips is 10% of a 100-pip count, but 20% of a 50-pip count, with fewer rolls left for the dice to even things out. That's why the race rules for the doubling cube use the lead as a percentage of the count: see cube decisions in a race.

3. Remember who is on roll

The player on roll moves first, which is worth something in itself: with equal counts, they're usually ahead. In the example above, your opponent leads by 5 pips, but you're on roll, so the race is roughly even.

You don't need the count every turn. Count when the answer can change your plan:

• When contact is about to break. Before you run your last back checker or give up an anchor, check that the race you're entering is one you're winning.
• When choosing a game plan. Ahead in the race and able to get home safely, simplify and head home: that's the running game. Behind, keep contact: hold an anchor and wait for a shot, as in a holding game. Far behind, a back game may be the only plan left.
• Before a cube decision. In a race, the pip count is most of the decision: count before you double, and before you take or pass (cube decisions in a race).
• After a hit. A hit can turn a losing race into a winning one, and the other way round. Recount before deciding to run.

The count is one of the two questions to ask about any position; the other is who has the stronger board. Our strategy guide shows how to combine them: reading the position.

• Counting the opponent from your side. Their checker on your N-point counts 25 − N for them.
• Forgetting the bar. A checker on the bar counts 25, not 0 and not 24.
• Skipping a point. Count in a fixed order, from the 24-point down, and check that you've counted all 15 checkers, minus those borne off.
• Counting the position before the roll. If you count during your turn, count before you move, or subtract the roll you've just played.
• Trusting the raw count in the bear-off. Gaps and stacks waste pips; two positions with the same count can be several pips apart.
• Never counting. Running into a race you're losing, or holding on to contact when you could safely race home far ahead, can cost you the game. See common beginner mistakes for the others.

Like any skill at the board, counting gets fast with repetition. Three habits help:

• Count before you look. Count the race yourself, then check your number against the one on screen.
• Start with the difference. In most races, cancelling the mirrored checkers leaves only a handful to count.
• Count at the key moments. When contact breaks, before every cube decision, and before you run or give up an anchor.

The pip count is the yardstick of the race. For the numbers behind every roll, read our guide to backgammon odds, and to finish the race well, our guide to bearing off.