Backgammon Strategy Backgammon Strategy for Dummies

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

As we have dicussed in the previous article, Backgammon is a game of skill and luck. The goal is to shift your chips carefully around the board to your home board and at the same time your opponent shifts their checkers toward their inside board in the opposing direction. With competing player chips heading in opposing directions there is bound to be conflict and the need for specific tactics at particular instances. Here are the last 2 Backgammon strategies to round out your game.

The Priming Game Tactic

If the aim of the blocking tactic is to hamper the opponents ability to move her pieces, the Priming Game strategy is to absolutely block any movement of the opponent by constructing a prime - ideally 6 points in a row. The opponent's chips will either get bumped, or end up in a battered position if he ever attempts to leave the wall. The ambush of the prime can be established anyplace between point two and point eleven in your half of the board. Once you have successfully assembled the prime to prevent the activity of the competitor, the opponent does not even get to toss the dice, and you shift your chips and toss the dice yet again. You will be a winner for sure.

The Back Game Technique

The goals of the Back Game strategy and the Blocking Game strategy are similar - to harm your competitor's positions in hope to better your odds of succeeding, however the Back Game technique uses different tactics to do that. The Back Game plan is generally used when you're far behind your competitor. To play Backgammon with this tactic, you need to hold 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 needs careful movement of your pieces and how the checkers are relocated is partly the result of the dice roll.