The Basics of Backgammon Tactics – Part Two
Posted in Backgammon on 12/24/2024 12:25 am by Zaire
As we have dicussed in the previous article, Backgammon is a game of ability and pure luck. The goal is to move your pieces carefully around the game board to your home board while at the same time your opposition shifts their checkers toward their inside board in the opposing direction. With opposing player chips moving in opposing directions there is going to be conflict and the need for specific strategies at particular times. Here are the two final Backgammon strategies to round out your game.
The Priming Game Tactic
If the goal of the blocking strategy is to slow down the opponent to move her checkers, the Priming Game tactic is to completely barricade any activity of the opposing player by constructing a prime – ideally 6 points in a row. The competitor’s pieces will either get bumped, or end up in a bad position if she ever attempts to escape the wall. The ambush of the prime can be established anyplace between point two and point 11 in your board. Once you’ve successfully assembled the prime to block the activity of the competitor, your opponent does not even get to roll the dice, that means you move your checkers and toss the dice again. You’ll be a winner for sure.
The Back Game Technique
The goals of the Back Game strategy and the Blocking Game tactic are very similar – to hinder your competitor’s positions with hope to boost your odds of winning, but the Back Game plan utilizes different techniques to do that. The Back Game strategy is commonly utilized when you’re far behind your opponent. To compete in Backgammon with this tactic, you have to hold two or more points in table, and to hit a blot (a single piece) late in the game. This plan is more difficult than others to play in Backgammon seeing as it requires careful movement of your checkers and how the pieces are moved is partly the result of the dice roll.