How to play Hypergammon.
Hypergammon is backgammon with three checkers a side, all of them starting in your opponent's home board. There is almost nothing on the board, so every blot matters and a game is over quickly.
Hypergammon at a glance
- Checkers
- 3 a side
- Start, from your side
- 1 on the 24-point, 1 on the 23, 1 on the 22
- Direction
- Opposite, as in backgammon: you go from 24 down to 1, your opponent from 1 up to 24
- Doubling cube
- Yes, if you set a match and switch it on. A Play now game is a single game without it
- Hitting or pinning
- A lone checker that gets hit goes to the bar
- Scoring
- 1, 2 or 3 points: a win, a gammon, a backgammon, times the cube
Three checkers, one hit can swing it.
You start with 69 pips to go, against 167 in backgammon. You can make exactly one point, and only by leaving your third checker on its own. So you are nearly always exposed somewhere.
Being hit costs you most of a lap, and you have to enter before anything else moves. A game that looked won can turn on one roll, which is why it plays so differently from the regular game despite having the same rules.
Hypergammon rules, in order of play
Set up. One checker on each of your opponent's 1-point, 2-point and 3-point. Counted from your side that's the 24, 23 and 22. Your opponent mirrors it on your home board.
Open. Each side rolls one die. The higher die plays both numbers as its first turn, and a tie rolls again.
Move. Each die is its own move, to any point not held by two of your opponent's checkers. Doubles play four times. Play both numbers if you can, and the higher one if only one will play.
Hit. Landing on a lone checker sends it to the bar, and it enters your opponent's home board before you can move anything else.
Bear off. Once all three are in your home board you bear them off. The first side with none left wins.
Score. A gammon means the loser bore off nothing, and a backgammon that they still had a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board. Both are possible even with three checkers.
bkgm.com plays it with the cube and the Jacoby rule, so gammons and backgammons score extra only after a double. On the door the cube and Jacoby are yours to set. A bot never offers a double in this game, and it always takes yours.
Hypergammon strategy
A few tips, not rules. All of them come from how little you have on the board.
- Count before you run. With so few pips, a hit is a bigger share of the race than in any other game here.
- Pass your opponent's checkers as a group where you can. Once all your checkers are past all of theirs, nobody can hit anybody and it is a plain dice race.
- A point is your only safe spot, but holding it can mean breaking it badly later. Think about what next turn's big rolls will force.
- Leave a blot where it can be hit by the fewest rolls, not where it looks tidy. You can't avoid risk here, only choose it.
Where Hypergammon comes from
bkgm.com, which writes it Hyper-backgammon, calls it a recent variant played as a quick diversion from the regular game. English Wikipedia ties it to the early 1990s, when Hugh Sconyers solved it by computer.
Solved means the exact equity of all of its 32 million possible positions has been calculated, so a computer can play it perfectly. The bots here don't use those tables. GNU Backgammon can't read this game, so the medium and hard bots rank their plays by a rule of thumb, and there is no analysis afterwards.
Hypergammon questions
What are the Hypergammon rules?
Backgammon's rules, with three checkers a side starting on the 24, 23 and 22 points. The first side to bear off all three wins.
Is Hypergammon solved?
Yes. Hugh Sconyers calculated all 32 million positions, so a computer can play it perfectly. Remembering any of that is a different matter, which is why people still play it.
Is Hypergammon luck or skill?
Both, with more dice than backgammon because a single roll can decide the game. The choices are still real: which blot to leave and when to run.
Can I play Hypergammon online for free?
Yes. Play Hypergammon now starts a game against a bot at once, with no signup. You can also play a bot or with a friend from the door and set a match there.
Is Hypergammon rated here?
No. It is unrated and played without a stake. It isn't in the rated queue, at tables or in tournaments.
Other games to try
- Nackgammon goes the other way, with four checkers back.
- Acey-Deucey starts on an empty board.
- Portes is full backgammon with no cube.