The Basics of Backgammon Game Plans – Part 1

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The goal of a Backgammon match is to shift your pieces around the game board and get them from the board faster than your competitor who works harder to achieve the same buthowever they move in the opposing direction. Succeeding in a match in Backgammon requires both strategy and good luck. Just how far you can move your pieces is left to the numbers from tossing the dice, and how you move your chips are determined by your overall playing techniques. Players use a number of strategies in the different stages of a game based on your positions and opponent’s.

The Running Game Plan

The goal of the Running Game tactic is to lure all your pieces into your inside board and pull them off as quick as you could. This plan focuses on the pace of shifting your checkers with little or no time spent to hit or block your competitor’s pieces. The ideal scenario to employ this tactic is when you believe you might be able to shift your own checkers a lot faster than your opposition does: when 1) you have less checkers on the board; 2) all your checkers have moved beyond your opponent’s chips; or 3) your opponent doesn’t employ the hitting or blocking tactic.

The Blocking Game Plan

The main aim of the blocking strategy, by its name, is to stop your competitor’s chips, temporarily, while not worrying about shifting your chips quickly. After you have established the blockade for the competitor’s movement with a couple of pieces, you can move your other pieces quickly from the board. The player will need to also have an apparent strategy when to extract and move the chips that you utilized for blocking. The game becomes intriguing when your opposition uses the same blocking tactic.