Playboard
  • Lesson 12 of 12
  • First strategy
  • 3 min

How to Count Pips in Backgammon

The pip count tells you who is ahead in the race. It takes a minute to learn and a little practice to do quickly.

Step 1 of 4

  1. What a pip is

    A pip is one point of travel. A checker on your 13-point needs 13 pips to bear off, one on your 6-point needs 6, and one on the bar 25. Your pip count is the total for all 15 of your checkers.

    At the start it is 2 × 24 + 5 × 13 + 3 × 8 + 5 × 6 = 167. White's is 167 too, because its checkers start the same way from its own side. During a match on Playboard, both counts are shown beside the players.

  2. Count your checkers

    All of your checkers are on your 8-point or in your home board. Multiply each point by the number of checkers on it, then add them up.

    What is your pip count?

    Question

  3. Who is ahead?

    To compare, count White's checkers from its own side. A White checker on your 1-point is 24 pips from home, one on your 12-point 13, and one on your 19-point 6: 25 minus your number for it.

    Who leads the race, and by about how much?

    Question

  4. Run when you're ahead

    Before this roll you lead by 27 pips, 91 to 118. When you are well ahead in the race, race: bring your last checkers home and stop giving White chances. Your back checker on the 18-point is right in front of White's checkers.

    Your move

    Bring your last back checker to safety with 6-5.

What you learned

  • A checker's pips are the points it still has to travel: its point number, or 25 from the bar.
  • Your pip count is the total for all 15 checkers. At the start both sides have 167.
  • Count White's from its own side: a White checker on your n-point has 25 minus n pips to go.
  • The lower count leads. When you are well ahead, race your checkers home safely.

In this course

Unit 1The rules

  1. The Backgammon Board: Points, Quarters and Direction
  2. How to Move Checkers in Backgammon With Two Dice
  3. Rolling Doubles in Backgammon: Four Moves, Not Two
  4. Hitting a Blot in Backgammon: Blots and the Bar
  5. How to Enter From the Bar in Backgammon
  6. How to Bear Off in Backgammon
  7. Winning at Backgammon: Gammons and Backgammons

Unit 2First strategy

  1. The Best Opening Moves in Backgammon
  2. Making Points and Primes in Backgammon
  3. Anchors in Backgammon: Where to Keep Your Back Checkers
  4. Safe Play in Backgammon: Blots, Shots and Risk
  5. How to Count Pips in Backgammon

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