EPC

How it works in play

Effective pip count adds the pips you can expect to waste to your raw count, so a bear-off with a tall stack on the 1-point counts as longer than its pips suggest. Comparing effective counts gives sharper race cube decisions than comparing raw counts.

Related terms

• Pip count — The total pips all your checkers still need to travel to bear off. Both sides start at 167.
• Wastage — Pips lost to inefficiency in the bear-off — rolling a 6 when only a 1 was needed.
• Keith count — A pip-count adjustment that accounts for checker distribution before race cube decisions.
• Late race — A race position with most checkers in or near the home board.

Go deeper

• Pip counting: effective pips and wastage
• Pip counting
• Backgammon strategy, from first roll to bear-off

In other languages

• العربيةعدّ النقاط الفعّال (EPC)
• ΕλληνικάEPC
• فارسیشمار پیپ مؤثر (EPC)
• עבריתספירת פיפים אפקטיבית (EPC)
• РусскийEPC
• TürkçeEtkili pip sayısı (EPC)