As we dicussed in the previous article, Backgammon is a casino game of ability and pure luck. The goal is to move your checkers safely around the game board to your inner board while at the same time your opposition shifts their checkers toward their home board in the opposite direction. With opposing player chips shifting in opposite directions there is bound to be conflict and the need for specific tactics at specific times. Here are the two final Backgammon strategies to round out your game.
The Priming Game Tactic
If the goal of the blocking tactic is to hamper the opponents ability to shift their chips, the Priming Game tactic is to completely stop any activity of the opponent by creating a prime – ideally 6 points in a row. The competitor’s chips will either get hit, or result a battered position if he/she ever tries to escape the wall. The ambush of the prime can be built anyplace between point two and point eleven in your board. Once you have successfully constructed the prime to block the movement of your competitor, the opponent does not even get a chance to roll the dice, and you move your chips and toss the dice yet again. You will be a winner for sure.
The Back Game Technique
The objectives of the Back Game plan and the Blocking Game strategy are very similar – to harm your competitor’s positions hoping to better your chances of succeeding, but the Back Game plan uses different techniques to do that. The Back Game strategy is often employed when you are far behind your opponent. To play Backgammon with this plan, you have to control 2 or more points in table, and to hit a blot (a single checker) late in the game. This plan is more difficult than others to employ in Backgammon seeing as it requires careful movement of your checkers and how the pieces are moved is partially the outcome of the dice toss.