The popularity of Opening 32 plays

If you would consult or look at many backgammon books that were written before 1980 you will discover that many of these references actually claim that the 32 down is the only good way to play a 32. In a big majority of these books, the 32 split is not even given any kind of book space – and when it is mentioned it is usually dismissed as an inferior play.

It is very probable that the historical bias against the 32 reverse split is largely due to the fact that there is also a bias being thrown the way of the opening 52 split. This could be because of the fear of being blitzed by the single number of double 5s.

The regular 32 split was not commonly seen during backgammon play in the 70s. But through the years, the 32 split actually started gaining in popularity and that by the 1990s, it was already being given an equal level of importance with the 32 down. By 1995, ably assisted by the backgammon players’ increased access to backgammon software, the 32 split has now become the play of choice for many players.

During the mid to late 1990s, high tech rollouts have even supported the reverse 32 split as the second best play.

As the different backgammon software became more intuitive and stronger, the resulting effect was that the reverse split was gradually eased out of the arsenal of plays in a backgammon player’s “strategy book”.

But in a very recent reversal, the snowie 4 rollouts have now put the 32 reverse split back into very close contention.