Playing a single game of backgammon is certainly fun, but it doesn’t last very long on its own, so typically an evening of backgammon will consist of a series of games. There’s different ways you can choose to score your game series, and you will need to adapt your strategy to match it.
There are 3 main “game modes” you can expect to play in the wild:
- Matches
- Unlimited games (also known as “money games”)
- Chouettes
In this article, we will discuss the first two types in more detail. A chouette is a version of backgammon played for money in a group with multiple simultaneous doubling cubes, and it is a bit beyond our current level to discuss them at this stage.1
Match play
A match is always declared for some number of points (say, “a 7-pt match”), where both players are each trying to get that number of points. In a typical tournament, the number of points in a match ranges from 7 to 11. Luck tends to play less of a factor in longer matches, but they obviously also take longer to play, so usually the earlier rounds of a tournament will have shorter matches.
In backgammon, when we talk about the match score, we more often talk about how far away we are from winning than the actual score. So, instead of saying the score is 6 – 2 to 7, we would say it’s 1 away – 5 away (often shortened to 1a–5a).
When playing in a match, a lot of the checker play adjustments come down to common sense. If you’re leading, you want to play safe to maintain your lead; if you’re trailing, you want to play gammonish volatile moves to try and get large swings in the score to turn the match around in your favor.
A lot of the resulting cube play is also rooted in common sense. If you’re leading you want to be more conservative with the cube, and if you’re trailing you want to double more aggressively. In fact, at a score of 1a (say for example 6a–1a), you try to cube at your earliest convenience. Whether you do or not, losing the game will lose you the match, so you might as well always be playing for 2 points instead of just 1. There are plenty of examples of “rules of thumb” like this which we’ll get to in more detailed chapters on the doubling cube in match play.
The complete strategy for cube play is fairly complex, as the take point (the minimum win chances the trailer is willing to accept) deviates substantially from the 25% we described in the previous article on Doubling Cubes. There are certain positions that are “double/takes” at a given score but would be “no doubles” at different scores. For example, consider the following position:
Your opponent, in white, has about 34% win chances in this position — well-above the standard 25% take-point — so if you offered them the cube he should take it. But if you were leading 2a–4a, you shouldn’t even double! You have a reasonable possibility of just winning the match outright with a gammon, so there is no sense in also handing your opponent ownership of the cube in addition to a second point in case things go south for you! Conversely, if you were trailing 4a–2a and you doubled, your opponent would immediately pass for similar reasons: you have enough of a chance to gammon that winning a doubled gammon (and the match!) becomes too high a risk.
Crawford rule
One new rule of note in match play is the Crawford rule. As soon as the first player makes it to 1a, the doubling cube is set aside for one game, known as the Crawford game. This rule preserves a small advantage for the player in the lead, because as we’ve mentioned before, the trailer is set to double every game from this moment on. If the trailer wins this game, then we are in post-Crawford games, and the cube can be used again.
Unlimited games
Unlimited games are also known as money games. Despite the moniker, they do not need to be played for money.2 They are simply a series of independent games where the players keep a straight score. You win a game, 1 – 0; your opponent doubles and wins, 1 – 2, etc. Players can play for money, where each point is worth some value ($5 or $20 per point, for example). Because the outcome of a game is unrelated to the score or to previous (or subsequent) games, the take point is the same 25% each game, which vastly simplifies cube play. For this reason, if you’re reading a book or watching a video that’s describing a backgammon position, it will nearly always be described “for money game,” even if no cash is exchanging hands.
Jacoby rule
Just as in match play, there are new rules to learn when playing unlimited games. The first of these is the Jacoby rule. When playing with Jacoby, gammons don’t count until the cube is in play. That is, all games are worth 1 point until someone doubles. This rule incentivizes doubling instead of playing long drawn out games trying to fish for a gammon.
Beavers
The other common rule that isn’t applicable in match play is the ability to beaver. When a player doubles, the opponent can choose to raise the stakes again while keeping ownership of the cube. They would only do this if they think their opponent doubled in error, when in a losing position, for example.
Further reading:
- “Five Point Match,” by Kit Woolsey, describes the strategic considerations for all of the possible match scores in a 5-pt match. It’s a must-read for every serious backgammon player, but is probably too technical at our current level.
- If you’re interested in learning more about chouettes, you can find the rules here.
- If you are lucky enough to stumble upon one and are eager enough to try it at this stage, I’m sure those that are playing will be more than happy to teach you on the spot! ↩︎
- Admittedly, the name “money game” is vastly more popular than “unlimited game,” but the fact that “money game” refers to a style and is not necessarily a reference to gambling on the outcome of the game tends to be confusing to newcomers to the game. ↩︎
Next lesson: Checker play basics
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