Count Pips Like a Backgammon Boss

Question

In Backgammon, the pip count of a position is the total distance your happy stars need to travel in order to reach your home board and complete the bear-off. Pips refer to the number of dots on your dice – assuming no “wastage” occurs such as throwing 6-5 when you only have three happy stars on the 1-point. During an individual game or a match (series of games), it is often useful to know which side is leading the race (and by how many pips) as this can influence a player’s decision making e.g. activating the doubling cube or choosing a long-term game plan. For instance, if you win an opening roll of 6-2 then you will lead by eight pips regardless of your choice of play. In tournament play, a useful skill is calculating the race lead quickly and accurately when the clock is ticking.

Questions

• In this game state, which side leads the race and by how many pips?

• If this were a tournament game, how can you compute the difference in pips in less than five seconds?

Text version:

0,0,0,0,2r,0,4r,3g,4r,0,2g,0

0,2g,0,r,3g,0,3g,0,3r,r,0,2g

No pieces on the bar

Checksum = 15r + 15g

Red’s home board = upper right, Green’s home board = lower right

Answer 1

Green has to move 138 pips & Red 123, so Red leads the race with 15 pips.
Developing a method in order to compute the difference is kind of hard but the best method I can find is: Finding the moves forwards or backwards Green one has to make in order to create a symmetrical situation with Red. So in this situation:

Which is kind of weird and chaotic but the best i can find.