Running pip count

Instead of pausing to calculate the (relative) pip count multiple times per game, some players prefer to keep a running pip count in their heads throughout the game. The dice and the checker play have all the information you need to keep track of it at every step of the game. As far as techniques go, it is actually fairly plausible to master. Your opponent opens with a 63? They’re ahead by 9 pips. You then roll a 32? They’re ahead by only 4. What if they hit you, or roll a double? Then, you need to keep track of the movement of multiple checkers, but even that turns out not to be as hard as it seems! Let’s see what this looks like in practice.

We will keep track of the relative pip count by repeating it in our heads repeatedly. As usual, we are playing as the blue checkers, and Gary is playing as white. If we are leading, we will repeat our colour to ourselves and the amount we’re leading (e.g., “blue 5; blue 5”). If Gary is leading, we will repeat his colour instead (“white 5; white 5”). When the race is tied, we will just say “tied”.

The game starts (“Tied; tied; tied”).

We roll 63 (worth 9 pips, so “blue 9; blue 9; blue 9”), and play 24/18, 13/10.

Gary rolls 31 (worth 4 pips, and since 9 – 4 = 5, “blue 5; blue 5; blue 5”). Note that in many cases, such as this one, we can update our mental pip count without knowing what play our opponent will make!

With this roll, Gary chooses to make his 5-pt:

Next (remember: “blue 5; blue 5; blue 5”), we roll 62 (“blue 13; blue 13; blue 13”). We make Gary’s bar and bring down another builder: 24/18, 13/11.

Not bad, right? You can easily see how, with practice, keeping this count can become second nature.

Now (“blue 13; blue 13; blue 13”), Gary rolls a 54 (“blue 4; blue 4; blue 4”), and runs a backchecker, hitting our checker on the 11-pt:

Actually, Gary is leading by way more than 4 pips because, in addition to running his backchecker, he also sent one of our checkers from the 10-pt back to the bar. The real pip count is “white 11”. How do we calculate this over the board?

When a checker gets hit, instead of counting the number of pips on the dice, the number we need to add or subtract from our running count is the point the hitting checker starts on. In our situation, Gary’s white checker started on his 24-pt, so after hitting us, the number of pips he gained in the race was 24 pips. “Blue 13” minus 24 pips is “white 11”, which we know to be the right answer. If only one of the dice is used to hit, and the other is used to move a checker, we need to count those pips independently.

Let’s continue our example for a few more shakes to get a little more practice in. After getting hit (“white 11; white 11”), we roll 61, enter, and hop the checker to our anchor on Gary’s bar-point (“white 4; white 4”):

Next, Gary also rolls 61 and again chooses to hit us. This time, he hits us from his 15-pt with the ace, and then advances 6 pips the same checker:

Combined, he gains 15 + 6 = 21 pips in the race, which updates his lead to 25 pips.

Just like the other pip counting methods, this one takes some practice to master. The consensus advice for learning this method is to start doing it in non-contact (racing) situations, and adding in hits once those first plays become automated.

Once the count starts rolling automatically in your head, the benefits are compounding. For starters, you no longer need to pause the game to do a count. Better yet, you automatically know whether or not you’re ahead in the race, and it helps focus your game plan.

Further reading:

• A video by Nick Blasier where he demonstrates the running pip count in action.

Next lesson: The kangaroo count