10 beginner backgammon mistakes

Most lost games are not bad luck. They come from a handful of habits that almost every new player shares. Fix these ten and you will win noticeably more often.

By Backgammon Lounge · October 8, 2026

If you are still learning how the checkers move, start with how to play. Everything below assumes you know the rules and want to win more.

1. Leaving the back checkers too long

Your two checkers on your opponent's 1-point (your 24-point) have the farthest to travel. If you ignore them while you build your own board, your opponent builds points in front of them, and soon they cannot get out. A trapped pair of back checkers loses many games, and many gammons.

Fix: move them early. Split them with small numbers (24/23, 24/22), step them up to an anchor on your opponent's 4 or 5-point when you can, and run with big numbers like 6-5 (24/13) when they are free.

2. Stacking checkers on a few points

Six or seven checkers piled on your 6-point or 8-point look safe, but they do nothing. Spare checkers are only useful as builders: checkers spread across the outfield and your home board that can make new points next turn.

Fix: spread your spares. A position with checkers on many different points gives more rolls that make a useful point. Diversity beats safety early in the game.

3. Making the wrong points

Beginners often make their 1, 2 or 3-points early because the numbers fit. Those points are too deep: they do little to block your opponent and take checkers out of play. The best points to own are your 5-point, 4-point and bar point (7-point).

Fix: learn which points matter and aim your builders at them. The opening guide shows how each of the 15 opening rolls does this.

4. Hitting (or not hitting) on autopilot

Some beginners hit every blot they can; others never take a risk. Both lose. Hitting sends a checker back, which gains pips and costs your opponent a turn, but it can also leave your own blots exposed to return shots.

Fix: ask what you gain and what you risk. Early in the game, hitting is usually right, because being hit back costs little. When your opponent has a strong home board, a return hit can be fatal, so be more careful.

5. Not counting shots

When you must leave a blot, where you leave it matters a lot. A blot 6 pips from an enemy checker can be hit by 17 of 36 rolls. A blot 7 or more pips away is usually hit by only 6 rolls or fewer, because it takes a combination of both dice.

Fix: before you finish your move, count your opponent's shots. Prefer leaving blots far away (7 or more pips) to close ones. The odds page has the full shot table.

6. Giving up the midpoint too early

Your midpoint (the 13-point, where five checkers start) is a landing spot for your back checkers and a source of builders. Breaking it early leaves your back checkers with nowhere safe to go and your checkers too bunched up.

Fix: keep at least two checkers on the midpoint until your back checkers are on their way home.

7. Never counting the race

Whether you should race, hold or attack depends on who is ahead. Without a pip count you are guessing: you might run when you are behind, or hold back when you should be racing home.

Fix: count pips at key moments: when contact is about to break, and before any cube decision. A lead of about 10 percent of your count is a solid racing advantage.

8. Dropping too many doubles

When the opponent doubles, beginners often give up the game at once. But you should take whenever you win at least about 25 percent of the time (less with gammon risk), and many positions that feel bad still win that often.

Fix: learn the 25 percent rule. In a race, you can take when you are behind by up to about 12 percent of your pip count.

9. Careless bearing off

The game is not over when you start bearing off. Leaving a blot while your opponent still holds a point in your home board can lose a won game, and stacking checkers on low points wastes pips in a close race.

Fix: with contact, bear off safely first and keep an even number of checkers on your highest points. Without contact, take a checker off with every die you can. See bearing off.

10. Not reviewing your games

You cannot fix mistakes you do not notice. Backgammon results are noisy (see is backgammon luck or skill?), so a won game can hide bad plays and a lost one can hide good ones.

Fix: compare your moves with a strong player's. In Backgammon Lounge, turn on hints and play the computer: after each move you can see what the neural network would have played. A few minutes of this a day fixes more than hours of fast games.

Ready to put it into practice? Start a game and watch for these ten habits.

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