How to count pips

Last updated 28 October 2026

Each side starts a backgammon game with a pip count of 167. Your pip count is how far all your checkers still have to travel to get home and off the board: lower is ahead, and every roll brings yours down.

Work it out

Each checker needs as many pips as the number of the point it stands on, counted from your side: 6 for a checker on your 6-point, 13 for one on your midpoint. A checker on the bar needs 25. Add them all up.

At the start, for each side:

2 checkers on the 24-point: 48
5 checkers on the 13-point: 65
3 checkers on the 8-point: 24
5 checkers on the 6-point: 30

That’s 167. Your opponent counts the same way from their side, so their 6-point is your 19-point. How to set up the board shows the starting position on a diagram.

Count faster: only the difference

You rarely need both full counts, only who’s ahead and by how much. Skip any checker that has a twin on the other side, the same distance from home, and count only what’s left.

Say all your checkers are home: four on your 6-point, four on your 5, four on your 4 and three on your 3. Your opponent has one checker still 11 away, and the rest home: one on their 6-point, two on their 5, three on their 4, three on their 3, three on their 2 and two on their 1.

Skip the twins: one checker each on the 6-points, two each on the 5s, three each on the 4s and 3s. What’s left is three on your 6, two on your 5 and one on your 4, which makes 32, against their straggler and the five checkers on their 2 and 1, which make 19. They’re 13 ahead despite the straggler, because their home checkers sit deeper. The full counts, 69 and 56, say the same.

What the count tells you

Once the two sides’ checkers have passed each other, the game is a race, and the count says who’s winning it.

A roll moves you about 8 pips on average, doubles included. So being the one to roll is worth about 4 in a close race.
Ahead in the race, run for home. Behind, keep a point in your opponent’s home and wait for a shot.
The same count can be slower. Checkers piled on one point, or deep in your home, waste pips when they bear off.

Doubling in a race

A simple rule of thumb for a race that isn’t about to end:

Double when your lead is at least a tenth of your own count.
Take when you’re no more than an eighth of the doubler’s count behind.

For example, you need 79 and your opponent 87. A tenth of 79 is about 8, and you lead by 8: double. An eighth of 79 is about 10, so your opponent, 8 behind, should still take; they win about 1 game in 4. With only a few rolls left, count rolls instead of pips.

Practise it

In Backgammon Room the game screen shows both counts, so you can check yours (you can hide them in Settings › Show pip counts to practise). The course Who’s ahead? teaches the race in short lessons on the board, and Bringing them home covers bearing off and doubling in a race.

Questions

Why is it called a pip count?: A pip is one step from a point to the next, the same as one dot on a die. The count adds up the steps every checker still has to take.
Do I need to count in every game?: Not every move. Count when you’re deciding whether to run or stay back, and before any double or take in a race.
What else should I learn?: How to get better at backgammon has the habits that help most, and what’s a good error rate explains how to see your progress.