Backgammon Information

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As we have dicussed in the previous article, Backgammon is a game of ability and luck. The aim is to move your checkers carefully around the game board to your home board while at the same time your opponent moves their pieces toward their inner board in the opposing direction. With competing player checkers moving in opposing directions there is going to be conflict and the requirement for particular strategies at specific instances. Here are the two final Backgammon tactics to round out your game.

The Priming Game Plan

If the aim of the blocking tactic is to slow down the opponent to move her checkers, the Priming Game plan is to completely block any movement of the opposing player by constructing a prime – ideally 6 points in a row. The opponent’s pieces will either get hit, or result a bad position if he/she ever attempts to leave the wall. The ambush of the prime can be setup anyplace between point two and point 11 in your game board. As soon as you have successfully constructed the prime to prevent the movement of your competitor, the competitor doesn’t even get a chance to toss the dice, that means you move your checkers and roll the dice yet again. You will be a winner for sure.

The Back Game Tactic

The objectives of the Back Game tactic and the Blocking Game plan are very similar – to hurt your opponent’s positions in hope to improve your odds of succeeding, however the Back Game strategy uses different tactics to do that. The Back Game tactic is frequently used when you are far behind your competitor. To compete in Backgammon with this technique, you have to hold two or more points in table, and to hit a blot late in the game. This technique is more difficult than others to play in Backgammon seeing as it needs careful movement of your checkers and how the checkers are moved is partly the result of the dice toss.

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In extraordinarily general terms, there are 3 basic tactics employed. You need to be able to hop between game plans almost instantly as the course of the match unfolds.

The Blockade

This involves creating a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you might manage, to lock in your opponent’s checkers that are located on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most suitable tactic at the begining of the game. You can create the wall anywhere between your 11-point and your 2-point and then move it into your home board as the game advances.

The Blitz

This involves closing your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your opponent on the bar. i.e., if your challenger rolls an early two and shifts one checker from your one-point to your 3-point and you then toss a five-five, you will be able to play 6/1 6/1 8/3 8/3. Your competitor is now in serious calamity due to the fact that they have two checkers on the bar and you have locked half your home board!

The Backgame

This tactic is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor is a position filled by at least 2 of your pieces.) It would be employed when you are significantly behind as this strategy greatly improves your chances. The best locations for anchor spots are near your competitor’s lower points and also on abutting points or with a single point in between. Timing is important for an effectual backgame: besides, there is no reason having 2 nice anchor spots and a solid wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break up this straight away, while your opponent is getting their pieces home, because you don’t have any other additional checkers to shift! In this case, it is better to have checkers on the bar so that you are able to maintain your position until your challenger provides you an opportunity to hit, so it may be an excellent idea to attempt and get your challenger to get them in this situation!