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 ability and luck. The goal is to shift your checkers carefully around the board to your inner board while at the same time your opposition shifts their pieces toward their home board in the opposing direction. With competing player pieces heading in opposing directions there is going to be conflict and the requirement for specific tactics at particular instances. Here are the two final Backgammon strategies to finish off your game.

The Priming Game Plan

If the aim of the blocking tactic is to hamper the opponents ability to shift her chips, the Priming Game plan is to completely stop any movement of the opponent by constructing a prime – ideally 6 points in a row. The opponent’s pieces will either get bumped, or result a battered position if he at all tries to escape the wall. The ambush of the prime can be setup anywhere between point two and point eleven in your board. Once you’ve successfully assembled the prime to block the movement of the competitor, the opponent does not even get a chance to roll the dice, that means you move your chips and roll the dice yet again. You’ll win the game for sure.

The Back Game Tactic

The goals of the Back Game tactic and the Blocking Game tactic are similar – to hurt your opponent’s positions with hope to improve your chances of succeeding, however the Back Game technique utilizes alternate techniques to achieve that. The Back Game strategy is often employed when you are far behind your competitor. To compete in Backgammon with this technique, you need to control two or more points in table, and to hit a blot (a single piece) late in the game. This strategy is more difficult than others to play in Backgammon seeing as it requires careful movement of your chips and how the pieces are moved is partly the result of the dice toss.