If you’ve played 10 games and you’re losing more than you’re winning, the cause is almost certainly one of these five mistakes. The good news: each has a single fix you can apply immediately.

1. Hitting when you should be making points

The mistake: you see an opponent’s blot in your home board and you hit it because you can.

Why it’s wrong: hitting puts the opponent’s checker on the bar — fine — but it often costs you a point you could have made instead. Worse, you’ve left your own blot in striking distance, so your opponent re-enters and immediately hits you back.

The fix: before hitting, ask “could I make a point instead?” If yes, make the point. If no, hit but check that your hitting checker isn’t itself a blot afterward.

2. Stacking too many checkers on one point

The mistake: you keep adding checkers to the 6-point or 13-point because they’re “safe.”

Why it’s wrong: a point with 6 checkers on it is wasted material. Those extra checkers can’t move efficiently — they’re locked behind their own teammates. You lose mobility.

The fix: if a point has 4+ checkers, the next move should distribute one of them to an adjacent point. Spread your forces.

3. Running back checkers too early

The mistake: on your first roll, you run a back checker (e.g., 24/13 with a 6-5) “to safety.”

Why it’s wrong: sometimes correct (6-5 is the famous “lover’s leap”), but most other rolls don’t. Running a back checker too early gives up your anchor in the opponent’s home — and when you later have a checker on the bar, you have nowhere to land.

The fix: keep your back checkers as anchors unless you have a clean run roll. The back game is your safety net.

4. Ignoring the pip count

The mistake: you don’t know who’s winning.

Why it’s wrong: every strategic decision (race vs. block, take vs. drop the cube, leave a blot vs. play safe) depends on whether you’re ahead or behind. Without the pip count, you’re flying blind.

The fix: count your pips occasionally. Pip count = sum of (point number × number of your checkers on that point). Lower is better. You don’t need to count exactly every turn — just often enough to know whether the gap is widening or shrinking.

The faster way: the difference between your pip count and your opponent’s is what matters. After a few weeks of play you’ll start eyeballing this without calculation.

5. Defending blots when you should be attacking

The mistake: when you have a chance to hit and risk being hit back, you play safe instead.

Why it’s wrong: in many positions, the math is in favor of the attack. Hitting an opponent costs them ~10 pips minimum (back to the bar, then re-entering); your own getting-hit risk is often only worth ~3–5 pips of expected loss.

The fix: when in doubt, hit. The exceptions are: (a) you’re way ahead in the race and don’t need contact, (b) the opponent’s home board is so closed that you can’t re-enter if hit back. Otherwise, lean aggressive.

Self-correction drill

Play 10 games against the computer. After each loss, ask: which of these 5 did I do? You’ll find one or two that show up repeatedly. Fix that one. Then move to the next.

Try the drill now →