The value of time

Why you might want your opponent to hit you

A hit can sometimes buy you time to wait for a chance, without giving up the points you need.

CUBE BackgammonPublished 18 October 2026Updated 21 October 2026

Getting hit sends a checker back to the bar and adds to the distance you still have to travel, which is a setback in a race.

But suppose you are already far behind and hoping for a late chance to hit. Getting home quickly may leave you with nothing useful to do while you wait.

A position you want to keep

In this example, Ivory holds two points deep in Red’s home board, numbered 22 and 24 from Ivory’s side. These are anchors: Red cannot land there, and Ivory can wait for a shot as Red brings the other checkers past.

Ivory’s five closed home points could hold a red checker after a hit, which makes them worth keeping while you wait.

Ivory must still use as much of each roll as the rules allow. Once the lone checker’s spare moves are used up, some rolls force Ivory to open an anchor or a home-board point.

Two routes for the same red checker

Imagine Red moving a checker from 14 to 19 with a 4–1. Going through 15 hits Ivory’s lone checker, while going through 18 avoids it. The red checker finishes on 19 either way.

We can now compare two versions of the position: one with the ivory checker still on 15, and one with it on the bar.

Give Ivory a 6–4 in each. Without the hit, the spare checker can travel from 15 to 5, keeping both anchors and all five home points intact.

After the hit, Ivory must enter before moving anything else. Neither a six nor a four can enter against Red’s closed points. Ivory makes no move at all, and the structure stays in place.

Try the same two rolls

Choose before or after the hit, then play two 6–4s. Red stays still in this small demonstration, so you can see the effect on Ivory’s structure alone.

7 of the 7 original points are still held.

The spare checker is still on 15.

Ivory moves toward 1; Red toward 24. All point numbers are shown from Ivory’s side.

Read the position

Ivory, point: number of checkers. 1: 2, 2: 2, 3: 2, 4: 2, 5: 2, 15: 1, 22: 2, 24: 2. Red: 18: 2, 19: 4, 20: 3, 21: 3, 23: 3. On the bar: Ivory 0, Red 0. Borne off: Ivory 0, Red 0.

The outlines mark the original anchors on 22 and 24 and the five home points. This compares keeping those seven points, not winning the game.

Now try another 6–4

Without the hit, the spare checker is already home, but Ivory still has to use the six. The home checkers cannot bear off while the anchors are outside the home board, so the six must come from one of those anchors. At least one has to break.

With the checker on the bar, another 6–4 still cannot enter. Both anchors and the five home points survive another turn.

Holding Red’s checkers still lets us see which points Ivory has to give up; in a full game, Red would keep moving too.

What players mean by timing

In this backgame, having timing means being able to keep playing while preserving the anchors and home-board points that would make a later hit useful. A checker still far from home provides moves to play while waiting; being hit can give it that distance to travel again.

Ivory isn’t shut out forever in our position: an ace or a three allows entry onto an anchor. What happens next depends on the rolls and on Red’s play.

Being hit can also leave you more vulnerable to a gammon or backgammon if the opponent finishes before you recover. The extra time helps if it lets you keep your anchors and home-board points ready for a later hit.

The question is whether you still have a strong home board and an anchor when the late shot finally comes. Getting everything home too early can leave you waiting with no structure left.

Timing is a long-established part of backgame strategy. We used Bill Robertie’s “Backgame Timing” as a reference for maintaining a useful home board while waiting for a shot. The paired positions, two legal routes and fixed-roll demonstration here were created for CUBE Backgammon.

What this demonstration establishes

Both versions contain 15 checkers per side. The red 4–1 routes are legal and finish with the same red arrangement. We checked every complete legal ivory play for each demonstrated 6–4. Without the hit, all seven original made points can survive the first roll, but at most six can survive the second. After the hit, neither roll can enter, so all seven remain. We choose a play that preserves the most original points; that is a teaching criterion, not an engine recommendation. We do not estimate winning chances or claim that Red should hit in this position.

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