The Basics of Backgammon Game Plans – Part Two

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As we have dicussed in the previous article, Backgammon is a casino game of skill and pure 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 inner board in the opposing direction. With opposing player chips shifting in opposite directions there is bound to be conflict and the requirement for specific strategies at particular instances. Here are the 2 final Backgammon tactics to round out your game.

The Priming Game Strategy

If the aim of the blocking plan is to slow down the opponent to shift their chips, the Priming Game plan is to absolutely block any movement of the opponent by building a prime – ideally 6 points in a row. The opponent’s pieces will either get bumped, or end up in a damaged position if he ever tries to leave the wall. The trap of the prime can be built anywhere between point 2 and point 11 in your game board. Once you have successfully built the prime to block the activity of your competitor, your competitor doesn’t even get to toss the dice, that means you shift your checkers and toss the dice again. You’ll win the game for sure.

The Back Game Technique

The aims of the Back Game tactic and the Blocking Game tactic are similar – to hurt your competitor’s positions hoping to boost your chances of succeeding, however the Back Game strategy uses alternate tactics to do that. The Back Game tactic is commonly used when you’re far behind your competitor. To compete in Backgammon with this tactic, you have to hold two or more points in table, and to hit a blot late in the game. This strategy is more challenging than others to play in Backgammon seeing as it requires careful movement of your checkers and how the checkers are relocated is partly the outcome of the dice roll.