Backgammon

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

The aim of a Backgammon game is to move your checkers around the game board and pull those pieces from the game board faster than your opponent who works just as hard to do the same buthowever they move in the opposing direction. Succeeding in a round of Backgammon needsrequires both strategy and fortune. Just how far you can shift your chips is left to the numbers from tossing the dice, and how you move your chips are determined by your overall playing plans. Enthusiasts use a few tactics in the different parts of a game dependent on your positions and opponent’s.

The Running Game Plan

The aim of the Running Game plan is to entice all your pieces into your inside board and get them off as quickly as you could. This technique focuses on the speed of advancing your chips with no time spent to hit or barricade your opponent’s checkers. The ideal time to employ this tactic is when you believe you can shift your own chips quicker than your opposition does: when 1) you have less pieces on the board; 2) all your pieces have moved beyond your opponent’s pieces; or 3) the opponent doesn’t employ the hitting or blocking strategy.

The Blocking Game Plan

The primary aim of the blocking plan, by the name, is to block your competitor’s checkers, temporarily, while not worrying about shifting your pieces quickly. After you have created the barrier for your opponent’s movement with a couple of checkers, you can shift your other checkers quickly off the board. The player will need to also have a clear strategy when to extract and move the chips that you used for the blockade. The game gets intriguing when your competitor uses the same blocking tactic.

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

In extraordinarily simple terms, there are 3 general techniques employed. You must be able to switch techniques quickly as the course of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This consists of building a 6-thick wall of checkers, or at a minimum as thick as you are able to manage, to block in the opponent’s pieces that are located on your 1-point. This is considered to be the most adequate course of action at the start of the match. You can assemble the wall anywhere between your eleven-point and your 2-point and then move it into your home board as the match advances.

The Blitz

This consists of closing your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your opposer on the bar. e.g., if your opposer rolls an early 2 and moves one checker from your one-point to your three-point and you then toss a 5-5, you can play six/one 6/1 8/3 eight/three. Your opposer is then in big-time dire straits considering that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have closed half your inside board!

The Backgame

This strategy is where you have 2 or higher checkers in your opponent’s home board. (An anchor spot is a point consisting of at least 2 of your pieces.) It would be used when you are extremely behind as it greatly improves your circumstances. The strongest areas for anchor spots are close to your competitor’s smaller points and also on adjoining points or with one point separating them. Timing is crucial for a competent backgame: after all, there is no reason having two nice anchors and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then forced to break apart this right away, while your opposer is shifting their pieces home, because you do not have other spare pieces to shift! In this situation, it’s more favorable to have checkers on the bar so that you are able to preserve your position up till your opposer gives you a chance to hit, so it may be a good idea to attempt and get your challenger to hit them in this situation!