StrategyBackgammon
Three opening rolls make a point on the spot, and you should always take it: 3-1 makes your five point, 4-2 makes your four point, 6-1 makes your bar point. With 6-5 a back checker runs straight to safety. The other eleven rolls are a choice between splitting your back checkers and bringing down builders, and the standard plays below cover all fifteen.
First, an anchor so the words mean something. We count points from your own side: your six point and eight point start with heavy stacks, your midpoint is the 13 point, and your two back checkers wait far away on the 24. The opening has two jobs, claim good points and put lazy checkers to work.
What are the best opening rolls in backgammon?
Four rolls make a new point immediately. Take them every time, no debate, no style. A made point is a wall your opponent must play around for the rest of the game.
- 3-1: make your five point, one checker from the eight point and one from the six. The best opening roll in the game.
- 4-2: make your four point, the same shape one step deeper, one from the eight and one from the six.
- 6-1: make your bar point, one from the midpoint and one from the eight. With your six and eight points already held, that is three walls in a row.
- 5-3: make your three point, one from the eight and one from the six. A little deep this early, but modern rollouts prefer the made point to shuffling builders around.
The five point is called the golden point for a reason. It cramps the two enemy checkers sitting in your home board, denies them the anchor they want most, and starts the prime that wins most games. When a roll offers it, take it.
Should you split or slot with 2-1, 4-1 and 5-1?
These are the awkward ones. The big number does honest work and brings a builder down from the midpoint. The one is the problem child, and there are two schools. Splitters move a back checker from the 24 point to the 23, giving the pair two ways forward and taking the sting out of the worst attacks. Slotters drop a checker from the six point onto the five, volunteering a blot on the golden point: survive one exchange and you cover it, and the best point on the board is yours by the second turn.
- 2-1: midpoint to the 11 point with the two, then split to the 23 or slot the five point with the one.
- 4-1: midpoint to the nine point with the four, then the same choice with the one.
- 5-1: midpoint to the eight point with the five, perfectly safe, then the same choice with the one.
Modern rollouts lean toward the split in a normal game and toward the slot when you need a gammon. Both are respectable. Choose one philosophy and learn its follow-ups rather than alternating at random.
What do you play with the middling rolls?
Four rolls neither make a point nor reach safety. Each one splits its work: one die reaches for ground on your opponent's side, the other brings a builder down. Playing both dice as builders is never far behind.
- 3-2: split to the 21 point with the three and bring a builder to the 11 with the two. Two builders down, to the 11 and the ten, is close behind.
- 4-3: almost a coin flip. Split to the 20 point with the four and bring a builder to the ten with the three, or play both down as builders.
- 5-2: midpoint to the eight with the five, then split to the 22 with the two. The quieter second builder to the 11 trails by a hair.
- 5-4: midpoint to the eight with the five and split to the 20 point with the four. The 20 is the anchor you want most, so start asking for it early.
When should you just run?
When you roll a six. A six is the only number that carries a back checker past your opponent's bar point in one hop, before any blockade exists. Only one of the four sixes lands safe; the others buy good ground with a blot.
- 6-5: the lover's leap. One back checker runs from the 24 point all the way to your midpoint. Completely safe, always correct.
- 6-3: run to the 18 point with the six and bring a builder to the ten with the three.
- 6-2: run to the 18 with the six and bring a builder to the 11 with the two.
- 6-4: a rare three-way tie. Run one checker to the 14 point, or run to the 18 with a builder to the nine, or make your two point. The first two keep everything working; the two point is real but deep.
Can you roll doubles on the opening roll?
No. A game opens with each player casting one die, and the higher number moves first using exactly the two dice showing. Equal numbers are cast again. So the first roll is always two different numbers, which is why there are fifteen opening rolls rather than twenty-one, and why doubles only enter the game from the second roll onward.
What principles cover every opening roll?
Strip the fifteen rolls away and three habits remain.
- Make points. A made point never needs defending and never gets hit. Any roll that makes the five point, the four point or the bar point plays itself.
- Unstack. You start with towers of five on the six point and the midpoint. The third and fourth checkers in a stack are doing nothing; spread across the outfield they become threats.
- Do not bury checkers. Deep points like the two and the one are cheap now and useless later. Keep your checkers where the fight is going to be, from your four point out to your opponent's five.
The opening roll is not about this turn. It is about the shape your next six turns inherit.
However you open, the argument afterward should be about the play, never about the dice. In Orion every roll is committed to before the game begins and anyone can check the record at orion.arthea.ai/verify, which leaves the fifteen openings as the only thing left to argue about.