Backgammon Strategy Backgammon Strategy for Dummies

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The goal of a Backgammon game is to move your chips around the Backgammon board and pull those pieces off the board faster than your competitor who works harder to achieve the same buthowever they move in the opposing direction. Winning a round in Backgammon requires both tactics and fortune. How far you can shift your chips is up to the numbers from rolling a pair of dice, and the way you shift your pieces are decided on by your overall playing tactics. Players use a number of techniques in the different stages of a match depending on your positions and opponent's.

The Running Game Strategy

The aim of the Running Game tactic is to bring all your pieces into your inside board and bear them off as fast as you can. This strategy concentrates on the pace of advancing your checkers with no time spent to hit or block your competitor's chips. The ideal time to use this plan is when you believe you can shift your own checkers faster than your opposing player does: when 1) you have less pieces on the board; 2) all your chips have past your competitor's chips; or 3) your opposing player does not use the hitting or blocking strategy.

The Blocking Game Technique

The main goal of the blocking strategy, by the title, is to block your competitor's checkers, temporarily, not worrying about shifting your chips quickly. As soon as you've established the barrier for your competitor's movement with a few checkers, you can move your other checkers quickly off the game board. The player should also have a clear plan when to back off and move the checkers that you employed for blocking. The game gets interesting when your opposition uses the same blocking technique.