The Essential Basics of Backgammon Tactics – Part 2
As we dicussed in the previous article, Backgammon is a game of skill and pure luck. The aim is to shift your pieces carefully around the game board to your inner board while at the same time your opposing player shifts their pieces toward their inside board in the opposite direction. With opposing player pieces shifting in opposing directions there is going to be conflict and the need for specific tactics at specific times. Here are the two final Backgammon techniques to complete your game.
The Priming Game Strategy
If the goal of the blocking plan is to slow down the opponent to move their checkers, the Priming Game tactic is to completely block any activity of the opposing player by building a prime – ideally 6 points in a row. The opponent’s pieces will either get hit, or result a bad position if she at all tries to escape the wall. The trap of the prime can be setup anyplace between point 2 and point 11 in your board. After you have successfully built the prime to stop the activity of your opponent, your competitor does not even get a chance to roll the dice, and you shift your pieces and roll the dice again. You’ll win the game for sure.
The Back Game Strategy
The objectives of the Back Game tactic and the Blocking Game strategy are very similar – to hinder your competitor’s positions hoping to better your odds of succeeding, but the Back Game technique relies on alternate tactics to do that. The Back Game strategy is commonly used when you’re far behind your opponent. To participate in Backgammon with this technique, 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 complex than others to play in Backgammon seeing as it requires careful movement of your chips and how the checkers are moved is partly the outcome of the dice toss.