Hypergammon Strategy

Hypergammon looks like pure luck at first. You have three checkers, your opponent has three, and you both race around the board trying not to get hit. In reality there is more to it. A few clear strategic ideas will give you an edge over players who just roll and hope. If you are new to the game, start with our hypergammon introduction.

The main strategy elements

Beyond common sense, two more refined tools are useful in hypergammon: duplication and keeping the chance of being hit as low as possible. But the foundation is a short list of simple rules:

1. Hit!
2. Build a point as far forward as possible.
3. Do not break that point until it is safe.
4. Large doubles win games.

Hit

Unless you are already bearing off and a hit would create more problems than it solves, you should usually hit. This matters most in the middle of the game, when both players are fighting for control of the outer boards. With only three checkers, losing one to the bar for a turn or two is a serious setback, since it cannot help make points or block. Show no mercy.

Build a forward point

A key to winning is making a point, two checkers together, as far forward on your side of the board as possible. Early in the game, move your checkers so that they can come together on such a point. The further forward the point, the better it blocks your opponent and the more useful it is as a safe stop for your third checker.

Many games involve a fierce fight for this territory, with checkers being hit back and forth for several turns. That is part of what makes hypergammon fun.

Do not break your point too early

Do not rush your checkers home while there is still a good chance you will need to hit. If you break your point and then get hit, you can find yourself starting over, with a checker that has to travel all the way around the board while your opponent waits to hit it again. In general, bring your checkers in only once contact is over and the game has become a pure race.

Large doubles

Once the game turns into a race, there is not much to do except hope for big doubles. A 6-6 is worth 24 pips, more than a third of a hypergammon player's starting count, and often decides the game. Doubles are also handy earlier, because they let you move a made point forward without breaking it. Over many games, the player who rolls more doubles tends to win, so use the race skills you know from regular backgammon to judge your chances.

Duplication in hypergammon

Duplication means arranging your checkers so that your opponent's good numbers overlap. Suppose you have a roll that could either run one checker past your opponent's checkers or bring two checkers into new positions. A naive play might leave two blots that your opponent can hit with many different numbers. A better play places your checkers so that the numbers your opponent needs to hit are the same numbers he needs for his own most important move, such as making a point. Now he cannot do both with one roll, and every good roll for him is less good than it looks.

When you manage to create this kind of choice, you put your opponent under real pressure. In hypergammon a single wrong decision can lose the game, and forcing your opponent to choose between two attractive options increases his chances of choosing wrong.

Probability of being hit

You will often have to move checkers past your opponent's checkers, so it helps to know how dangerous each distance is. The table shows the chance of hitting a blot a given number of pips away with one checker, assuming no blocks. In hypergammon there are few blocking points, so these numbers are usually close to the truth.

Two rules follow:

• If you must leave a blot within 6 pips of an enemy checker, leave it as close to that checker as possible.
• If you leave a blot more than 6 pips away, leave it as far away as possible.

Remember that two enemy checkers aiming at the same blot hit more often than one. You cannot always follow these rules in such a fast game, especially early on when you are trying to build a point. But when a checker of yours has been hit and needs to come home, they are a good guide. More tables are in our probability tables article.

Conclusion

Luck plays a big role in hypergammon. Three checkers leave little room for creative play, so you must make the most of each roll. The goal is not to win every game but to win more often than you lose. Follow the ideas in this article and you will be ahead of most opponents.