The Essential Basics of Backgammon Tactics – Part 2

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As we have dicussed in the previous article, Backgammon is a game of skill and luck. The goal is to move your chips carefully around the game board to your inner board and at the same time your opposition moves their chips toward their inside board in the opposing direction. With competing player checkers shifting in opposite directions there is going to be conflict and the requirement for particular strategies at specific times. Here are the last 2 Backgammon plans to finish off your game.

The Priming Game Plan

If the goal of the blocking strategy is to slow down the opponent to move her checkers, the Priming Game plan is to completely block any activity of the opposing player by building a prime – ideally 6 points in a row. The opponent’s chips will either get bumped, or end up in a battered position if she ever tries to leave the wall. The ambush of the prime can be built anywhere between point two and point eleven in your board. Once you’ve successfully constructed the prime to block the movement of the competitor, your opponent doesn’t even get to roll the dice, that means you shift your pieces and toss the dice again. You’ll win the game for sure.

The Back Game Plan

The objectives of the Back Game technique and the Blocking Game technique are similar – to hinder your competitor’s positions with hope to improve your chances of winning, however the Back Game plan uses alternate techniques to do that. The Back Game technique is commonly employed when you are far behind your competitor. To participate in Backgammon with this strategy, you need to hold 2 or more points in table, and to hit a blot (a single piece) late in the game. This tactic is more complex than others to play in Backgammon because it needs careful movement of your checkers and how the chips are moved is partially the outcome of the dice roll.