The Basics of Backgammon Strategies – Part Two
Posted in Backgammon on 05/04/2025 01:25 pm by Zaire
As we dicussed in the last article, Backgammon is a casino game of skill and luck. The aim is to shift your checkers safely around the board to your inside board and at the same time your opposition shifts their pieces toward their inner board in the opposite direction. With opposing player pieces heading in opposing directions there is going to be conflict and the requirement for specific strategies at specific times. Here are the last two Backgammon strategies to round out your game.
The Priming Game Plan
If the purpose of the blocking strategy is to slow down the opponent to move her pieces, the Priming Game plan is to absolutely block any activity of the opposing player by assembling a prime – ideally 6 points in a row. The competitor’s chips will either get hit, or result a battered position if she at all tries to escape the wall. The ambush of the prime can be established anyplace between point two and point 11 in your half of the board. As soon as you have successfully assembled the prime to prevent the activity of the competitor, your competitor doesn’t even get a chance to toss the dice, and you shift your chips and toss the dice again. You will be a winner for sure.
The Back Game Tactic
The goals of the Back Game tactic and the Blocking Game tactic are similar – to hinder your opponent’s positions hoping to better your chances of succeeding, but the Back Game strategy relies on alternate techniques to do that. The Back Game technique is often used when you are far behind your competitor. To participate in Backgammon with this tactic, you need to hold 2 or more points in table, and to hit a blot (a single checker) late in the game. This strategy is more challenging than others to employ in Backgammon because it requires careful movement of your checkers and how the checkers are relocated is partially the result of the dice toss.