Backgammon Tips

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In extraordinarily general terms, there are three fundamental game plans employed. You want to be agile enough to hop between game plans almost instantly as the course of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This is comprised of assembling a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you can achieve, to block in the opponent’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most adequate strategy at the begining of the game. You can assemble the wall anywhere within your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the game progresses.

The Blitz

This consists of closing your home board as quick as possible while keeping your competitor on the bar. i.e., if your opposer tosses an early 2 and moves one piece from your one-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you can play six/one six/one 8/3 eight/three. Your opposer is now in serious calamity because they have 2 pieces on the bar and you have locked half your inside board!

The Backgame

This plan is where you have two or more pieces in your opponent’s inner board. (An anchor is a position occupied by at least 2 of your checkers.) It needs to be used when you are decidedly behind as it much improves your chances. The better areas for anchor spots are towards your opponent’s lower points and either on abutting points or with a single point in between. Timing is crucial for an effectual backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having two nice anchors and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break up this straight away, while your opponent is moving their pieces home, owing to the fact that you do not have any other extra pieces to move! In this situation, it is better to have pieces on the bar so that you are able to preserve your position up till your competitor gives you a chance to hit, so it can be an excellent idea to attempt and get your challenger to hit them in this situation!