Gammon Rivals

Pip Counting

The pip count is the only number that tells you, without opinion, who is ahead in the race.

What a pip count is

Add up how far every one of your checkers still has to travel. A checker on your 6-point needs 6 pips to come off; five of them need 30. A checker on the bar counts as 25. Do that for all 15 and you have your count.

Both players start on 167. That is the number to sanity check against: if you count the opening position and do not get 167, you counted wrong.

Counting without going mad

Nobody adds fifteen numbers one at a time. Use groups:

  • Count a stack once and multiply: three checkers on the 8-point is 24.
  • Pair checkers that add to ten — an 8 and a 2, a 6 and a 4 — and count tens.
  • Count both sides in the same order every time, so you can compare quickly.

Keep the count instead of recounting

This is the real trick. After you have counted once, update as you go: every roll you play reduces your count by the pips you moved. A 6-3 played in full takes 9 off your count. Doubles take four times the die. When you hit a checker, add the pips it loses back to your opponent's count — a checker hit on their 10-point adds 15 for them (25 minus 10).

Do that and you always know the race without ever counting a second time.Gammon Rivals shows the count too, but a player who tracks it themselves sees the swing coming a roll earlier.

Using the lead

Once you know the difference, the plan follows:

  • Ahead in the race: race. Run your back checkers, avoid contact, take the safe play.
  • Behind in the race: do not race. Hold an anchor, play for a hit, build a prime. Trading checkers evenly loses for you.
  • Roughly level: position decides. Better points, better distribution, fewer stripped stacks.

Rough guide in a pure race, with no contact left: a lead of about 8% of your own count is enough to double, and a deficit of more than about 12% is a drop. Below that, take.

Where the count lies to you

The count measures distance, not structure. Eight checkers piled on your 6-point and nothing elsewhere counts well and plays badly. Two checkers trapped behind a five-prime count fine and are close to lost. Read the count first, then look at the board and ask whether those pips can actually move.

Next: use the count to make cube decisions incube strategy, or check a term in the glossary.