Backgammon Opening Moves: The Best Play for All 15 Rolls

How the opening roll works

On NitroPlayer each side rolls one die at the start. The higher die moves first and plays both numbers; a tie simply rolls again. So the first move is never a double, and each of the 15 possible opening rolls (6-5, 6-4 and so on down to 2-1) comes up equally often: 1 time in 15. Four of them, 3-1, 4-2, 5-3 and 6-1, make a new point, so the player who starts gets a point-making roll 27% of the time.

The notation below counts points from your side: your farthest-back checkers sit on the 24-point, your midpoint is the 13-point, and your home board is points 1 to 6. "8/5" means one checker moves from the 8-point to the 5-point. Both sides start with 167 pips to travel. For the full rules, see the backgammon game page.

Best backgammon opening moves for all 15 rolls

These are the standard plays used by strong players. Where two moves are close, both are listed.

A "builder" is a spare checker within 6 points of the point you want to make. The more builders you have near your 4, 5 and 7-points, the more next rolls let you make them.

Why 3-1 is the best opening roll

This is the move from the video. You won the opening roll with a 3 against the computer's 1. (The video says simply "you rolled a three and a one": on NitroPlayer that pair comes from one die each.)

1. Move one checker three spaces: from your 8-point to your 5-point.
2. Move another checker one space: from your 6-point to the same 5-point.
3. Result: two checkers on the 5-point. A point with two or more of your checkers cannot be hit, and the computer cannot land there.

The 5-point matters most because it sits right in front of the opponent's two back checkers on your 1-point. Together with your 6-point it starts a wall they must climb over, and it is also a point in your home board, which makes it harder for any checker you hit to come back in.

Blot odds: how often a single checker gets hit

A blot is a single checker on a point. Many opening moves leave one, so it helps to know the risk. This table counts how many of the 36 dice rolls can hit a blot at each distance from an enemy checker, with no blocking points in the way. The NitroPlayer computer uses these same counts when it judges how exposed a checker is.

The jump between 6 and 7 is the key fact: within 6 points a blot can be hit with a single die, beyond that it takes a combination of both dice. When you must leave a blot, leave it 7 or more points away if you can.

Backgammon strategy after the opening

• Keep making points in this order of value: the 5-point, then the 4-point and the bar point. Four or five points in a row trap the checkers behind them.
• Hit when it is cheap. A hit sends an enemy checker back to the start of its trip. Avoid it only if it leaves several of your own blots open to a return shot.
• Free your back checkers before the opponent's wall closes. The two checkers on your 24-point have the longest trip.
• Count the race. If you are clearly ahead in pips, stop hitting and run home. If you are behind, keep checkers back and wait for a shot.
• Play to win, not for a gammon. NitroPlayer has no doubling cube and the leaderboard counts wins, so take the safer play when the game is already yours.

How the computer opens on Hard

We ran the game's own move engine at the Hard level on all 15 opening rolls. With the four point-making rolls it plays exactly the moves in the table: 8/5 6/5 with 3-1, 8/4 6/4 with 4-2, 8/3 6/3 with 5-3 and 13/7 8/7 with 6-1. With 6-4 it makes the 2-point (8/2 6/2), one of the two standard choices. On Easy and Medium it sometimes picks a weaker move on purpose, which makes those levels a good place to practice the openings above.