Backgammon – Three General Plans

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In extraordinarily simple terms, there are three general tactics used. You need to be agile enough to hop between strategies quickly as the action of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of building a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at least as thick as you can achieve, to block in the opponent’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most acceptable tactic at the start of the match. You can create the wall anyplace inbetween your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shuffle it into your home board as the match continues.

The Blitz

This is composed of locking your home board as quickly as as you can while keeping your opposer on the bar. i.e., if your opposer tosses an early 2 and moves one checker from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a 5-5, you can play 6/1 six/one 8/3 8/3. Your challenger is now in serious calamity because they have two checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inside board!

The Backgame

This tactic is where you have 2 or higher anchors in your competitor’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at a minimum 2 of your pieces.) It should be used when you are extremely behind as it much improves your opportunities. The better places for anchors are near your opponent’s smaller points and either on adjoining points or with one point in between. Timing is critical for an effective backgame: at the end of the day, there’s no point having two nice anchors and a solid wall in your own home board if you are then required to break up this right away, while your challenger is getting their pieces home, seeing that you don’t have any other spare pieces to shift! In this situation, it is more favorable to have pieces on the bar so that you can preserve your position until your challenger gives you a chance to hit, so it can be an excellent idea to try and get your opposer to get them in this case!