basics of backgammon strategies

The Basics of Backgammon Strategies

The objective of a Backgammon game is to move your pieces around the

game board and bear them off the board faster than your opponent who

works harder to do the same but in the opposite direction. Winning a

game in Backgammon requires both strategy and luck. How far you can

move your pieces is up to the numbers from rolling the dices, and how

you move your pieces are determined by your over playing strategies.

Four basic strategies commonly used in standard Western backgammon are

1) the running game strategy, 2) the blocking game strategy, 3) the

priming game strategy, and 4) the back game strategy. Players use

different strategies in the different stages of a game dependent on

your positions and opponent's.

The Running Game Strategy

The goal of the Running Game strategy is to bring all your pieces into

your inner board and bear them off as fast as you could. This strategy

focuses on the speed of moving your pieces with no efforts to hit or

block your opponent's pieces. The best scenario to use this strategy

is when you think you can move your own pieces fast than the opponent

does: when 1) you have a fewer pieces on the board; 2) all your pieces

have past opponent's pieces; or 3) the opponent doesn't use the

hitting or blocking strategy.

The Blocking Game Strategy

The primary goal of the blocking strategy, by the name, is to block

the opponent's pieces, temporarily not to worry moving your pieces

quickly. Once you've established the blockage for the opponent's

movement with a few pieces, you can move your other pieces quickly off

the board. The player should also have a clear plan when to withdraw

and move the pieces that used for blocking. The game gets interesting

when the opponent uses the same blocking strategy.

The Priming Game Strategy

If the purpose of the blocking strategy is to slow down the opponent

to move his pieces, the Priming Game strategy is to completely block

any movement of the opponent by building a prime - ideally 6 points in

a row. The opponent's pieces will either get hit, or result a damaged

position if he ever tries escape the wall. The trap of the prime can

be established anywhere between point 2 and point 11 in your board.

Once you've successfully constructed the prime to block the movement

of the opponent, the opponent doesn't even get to roll the dice, and

you move your pieces and roll the dice again. You'll win the game for

sure.

The Back Game Strategy

The objectives of the Back Game strategy and the Blocking Game

strategy are similar - to hinder your opponent's positions in hope to

improve your chances of winning, but the Back Game strategy uses

different tactics to do that. The Back Game strategy is often used

when you're far behind your opponent. To play Backgammon with this

strategy, you need to control two or more points in table, and to hit

a blot late in the game. This strategy is more difficult than others

to play in backgammon because it requires careful movement of your

pieces and how the pieces are moved is partly the result of the dice

roll.

Natalie Aranda writes on games and entertainment. The objective of a

Backgammon game is to move your pieces around the game board and bear

them off the board faster than your opponent who works harder to do

the same but in the opposite direction. The rules of Backgammon are

very simple if you learn by playing. Winning a game in Backgammon

requires both strategy and luck.