The Essential Basics of Backgammon Game Plans – Part 2

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As we dicussed in the previous article, Backgammon is a game of ability and pure luck. The goal is to move your checkers safely around the game board to your home board and at the same time your opposing player shifts their chips toward their inner board in the opposite direction. With competing player chips moving in opposing directions there is going to be conflict and the need for specific strategies at particular times. Here are the last two Backgammon techniques to finish off your game.

The Priming Game Plan

If the purpose of the blocking tactic is to slow down the opponent to move their chips, the Priming Game plan is to absolutely stop any movement of the opposing player by constructing a prime – ideally 6 points in a row. The opponent’s chips will either get hit, or end up in a damaged position if he/she ever tries to escape the wall. The ambush of the prime can be setup anyplace between point 2 and point 11 in your board. Once you have successfully built the prime to block the movement of your competitor, your opponent does not even get to toss the dice, and you move your checkers and roll the dice yet again. You will win the game for sure.

The Back Game Strategy

The aims of the Back Game plan and the Blocking Game tactic are very similar – to hinder your opponent’s positions hoping to better your chances of succeeding, but the Back Game plan utilizes alternate techniques to do that. The Back Game strategy is frequently used when you are far behind your opponent. To compete in Backgammon with this plan, you need to hold 2 or more points in table, and to hit a blot late in the game. This strategy is more complex than others to employ in Backgammon because it needs careful movement of your checkers and how the checkers are moved is partly the outcome of the dice roll.