Backgammon race and cube calculator
Enter the pip counts in a race with no contact to see your winning chance and whether to double and take.
Pip count
Kleinman and Trice are rules of thumb for races without contact or heavy wastage, not exact values.
Your winning chance, roughly76.6%
- Your lead
- 11.1%
- Double
- Yes
- Redouble
- Yes
- Opponent
- Takes
- Point of last take, pips behind
- 11
Bear-off, exact
Enter the number of checkers on each home-board point for you (on roll) and your opponent.
Your winning chance78.5%
You3.9 rolls on average
Effective pip count 31.9
Opponent4.13 rolls on average
Effective pip count 33.7
Take point
Take if your winning chance is at least: 25%
The take point is for money play. The match score changes it and is not included here.
How it works
The pip count is the total number of pips your checkers still have to travel: the checkers on each point times the point number, plus 25 for each checker on the bar. The lower count leads, but being on roll is worth about four pips.
In longer races the winning chance is estimated with the Kleinman count, which weighs the lead against the length of the race. A ten-pip lead is a lot near the end but little at the start.
Trice’s 8-9-12 rule gives the cube action: double with a lead of at least 8%, redouble with at least 9%, and your opponent can take if the lead is 12% or less. The percentage is of the leader’s pip count.
Once every checker is in the home board the chance is exact. Each of the 54,264 positions with up to 15 checkers on six points has a known expected number of rolls, and the winning chance follows from both players’ distributions.
The take point is the lowest winning chance at which taking a double pays. With no gammons and a dead cube it is 25%. Gammons against you raise it, and a cube you can use yourself lowers it towards 20%.