The Essential Basics of Backgammon Tactics – Part 2
Posted in Backgammon on 12/28/2018 04:25 pm by Jillian
As we dicussed in the last article, Backgammon is a game of skill and luck. The goal is to shift your checkers carefully around the game board to your home board while at the same time your opponent shifts their checkers toward their inner board in the opposite direction. With opposing player chips moving in opposing directions there is bound to be conflict and the need for specific strategies at particular times. Here are the 2 final Backgammon strategies to complete your game.
The Priming Game Plan
If the aim of the blocking strategy is to slow down the opponent to shift his checkers, the Priming Game strategy is to absolutely barricade any activity of the opponent by constructing a prime – ideally 6 points in a row. The opponent’s checkers will either get hit, or end up in a bad position if he at all tries to leave the wall. The trap of the prime can be setup anywhere between point 2 and point 11 in your board. After you have successfully assembled the prime to prevent the movement of your competitor, your opponent does not even get a chance to roll the dice, that means you shift your pieces and roll the dice again. You’ll be a winner for sure.
The Back Game Strategy
The goals of the Back Game strategy and the Blocking Game technique are similar – to hinder your competitor’s positions hoping to better your chances of succeeding, but the Back Game strategy utilizes different techniques to do that. The Back Game technique is often used when you are far behind your competitor. To compete in Backgammon with this tactic, you need to hold two or more points in table, and to hit a blot (a single checker) late in the game. This plan is more difficult than others to employ in Backgammon seeing as it needs careful movement of your chips and how the pieces are relocated is partly the result of the dice toss.