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Games & strategy · course 7 of 105

Count the Backgammon Race Pip by Pip

Count the backgammon race from the opening 167 pips to the last checker: what each roll moves, who leads and by how much, and the chance you bear off in one roll.

4 modules

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What it teaches

The race maths every backgammon player needs: counting your pips (the start is 167), what a roll moves (doubles move four times), your new count after a roll, who leads the race and by how much, and the chance a last checker gets off in one roll (out of 36). The AI asks 3 questions, places you, shows a short card per module, then gives you one problem at a time and checks your answer against the answer key (every number in it computed by script).

How long

34 items. About 20-50 rounds plus a 12-item final: 1-2 sessions (estimate from one AI-simulated run: a strong player about 20 rounds, a beginner who misses a lot about 50; not timed with a person). The tutor gives a one-line save code at the end of each session.

The modules

4 modules, drilled one item at a time.

  1. M0

    The words

    The words

  2. M1

    Count the pips

    Count the pips

  3. M2

    Rolls

    What a roll moves

  4. M3

    The race

    Who leads, and bear-off chances

Before it teaches, it asks

  1. 1
    Do you play already, or are you learning? Online or with a board?
  2. 2
    Your checkers: 6-point ×3, 5-point ×2. What is your pip count?
  3. 3
    You roll 5-5. How many pips does the whole roll move?

What’s exact, and what isn’t

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Straight from the course’s own notes.

Computed by script
Every pip count, roll and lead; every bear-off chance by going through all 36 rolls, which reproduces the page’s own example (27/36 from the 6-point). Every key was also written by hand first and had to match.
Sourced
Setup, pip count, doubles, bar entry and bearing off from Wikipedia’s Backgammon article, 12 short quotes matched word for word (re-checked 2026-10-11).
Not in it yet
Checker play, openings, the doubling cube, bear-offs with more than one checker, racing formulas.