What is the Backgammon Straight Race?

admin · Site Admin Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 862

The backgammon straight race, or pure race, is the point in the game at which all opposing checkers have disengaged and you no longer have the opportunity to block or hit your opponent. When you have passed your opponent's final checker, the straight race has begun. The game is now a pure race to see who can reach his or her home board first and bear off.

In a game of backgammon, the straight race can often be one of the most stressful times. Sometimes it seems obvious who is going to win and other times the backgammon straight race is so close that neither player feels confident.

While many people think that the backgammon straight race comes down to pure luck, they are wrong. There is still a lot of strategy involved in this part of the game. You have to use your dice rolls wisely to get your checkers to your home board as quickly as possible. Organization within your home board is also extremely important. If you have a lot of gaps in your home board, it won't be as easy to bear them off. Try to keep your checkers on the low points because if you roll a number higher than any of the points you have checkers on you get to bear off checkers no matter what. However, let's say you roll a three and you have nothing on your three point, but checkers on four and five, you can’t bear anything off, you just have to move your higher checkers to lower points.

So don't give up in the backgammon straight race - you have to keep your game going strong until the end if you want to win!