Backgammon strategy can be very confusing for beginners. They wonder whether there is such a thing as “backgammon strategy” - after all, it backgammon seems to be about only two things: rolling dice and adjusting your options to the what the dice give you.

All right, let’s not fool ourselves here. Backgammon has an element of luck in it, but why is it then that certain players end up winning almost all of their backgammon games? What is it that makes them successful? You guessed it: the answer is “backgammon strategy”. Each experienced player has his own strategy and no doubt you’ll also have one or will soon develope one. If not, then be sure you read this article well - we’ll introduce you the most important concepts of basic backgammon strategy.

The three big goals

Backgammon strategy can be broken down to three goals players try to achieve. Here are each of the three goals with brief explanations.

1. Hit blots

Hitting blots is great for two reasons.

First, Backgammon is essentially a racing game. If you hit a blot, your opponent is sent back in the race: the blot (lone checker) you just hit has to enter the game from the bar and race around the board all over again. This means wasted time and die rolls for your opponent.

Second, hitting blots limits your opponent’s options on his turn. He must bring the blot back into the game before he can do anything else. And for doing anything else he only has one die left, and it may not be the one he would have wanted to use.

If you have a chance to hit your opponent’s blots, it is almost always the best thing to do. Even better is if you can hit two of them on the same turn! Especially if you have made some points on your home board, he most likely will not be able to enter both of those checkers. That way you get to play again and your opponent can’t do anything but complain about his “bad luck”.

2. Make points

If you can’t hit, make points. Points are incredibly valuable. When you make a point (move more than one checker to a point) your checkers are safe and at the same time you limit how your opponent can move. Not all points, however, are equally important. The most important points are those on your home board. They prevent your opponent from entering the game from the bar and there your checkers are ready for you to bear them off.

In the early phases of the game the most important point to make is your five point. Let that be your first priority during the first few moves. Claiming the five point has numerous advantages: a) it is used to bring checkers back into the game from the bar, b) it is a great grouping point for escaping back checkers and c) your checkers at your opponent’s five point are ready for bearing off, but still have room to move forward when necessary.

Other important points are the four point and the seven point. Claiming those makes it very difficult for the back checkers to escape and thus move towards their home board. If you can claim all those three points, you can congratulate yourself - you are on your way to winning the game!

3. Escape with your back checkers

Both you and your opponent will be furiously working to securing each others five, four and seven points, but don’t forget to move your back checkers! Say, you have managed to claim your opponents five point but at the same time he has your five AND seven points and you haven’t even touched your back checkers. It might become incredibly tough of a job for you to get your guys escape the blockade your opponent has built. Needless to say, you’ll soon fall behind in the race and will likely end up losing the game.

Every time you are unable to make points or hit (or you think it wouldn’t be a wise move): move your back checkers forward. A wise thing is to build an anchor. To build an anchor, split the back checkers. First move one back checker forward and later the other one. Splitting has its risks, but if your opponent hits them, you won’t lose much. It is best to build and anchor (= make your opponent’s five or four point) quite early in the game so your back checkers don’t get stuck on the one point. Keep in mind, though, that escaping with the back checkers rarely is an easy or safe task, so be prepared to take some risks!

To sum it all up

The three goals big of backgammon strategy demand that player knows how to balance between them. It is vital to know when to hit, make points and move the back checkers forward, which means that it is vital to make the correct tactical moves.

Best way of learning the balancing act is to just play, play and play some more. It is also important to understand that backgammon demands risk taking. Safe backgammon is losing backgammon. Taking the right risks is winning backgammon.

Backgammon is a tactical game that requires players to be able to change their strategy within moments. Sometimes you need to play conservative and constructive, other times require an aggressive attitude. In the very early stages in the game is such a moment when you really need to be aggressive, quick and determined. Achieve your early game goals quickly and you are on your way to winning the game.

The two early game goals

1. Build blocking points on your home board

This is smart for two reasons. First of all it makes your opponents life much more difficult. It is not fun to end up on the bar when entering is difficult. Even if you only have one or two points covered, it will severely limit your opponents choices on the turn he enters from the bar. The second reason is that when you make points on your home board, your checkers are ready for being beared off.

Keep in mind that not all points are equal though. You don’t want to make points right on the edge of the board, as these checkers cannot be maneuvered any further. Think of the home board points this way:

• five point is gold
• the points next to it are silver (four and six)
• the points next to the silver points are bronze (seven and three)

If you can’t take points on your home board, make points as near to it as you can. Block points 7-12 and note how it makes it very difficult for your opponent to escape his back checkers. Points 7-12 can also be used as reserve ammunition: with a good roll you can use checkers from those points to hit escaping back checkers or cover points on on your home board.

2. Escape your back checkers

Don’t forget your two back checkers. If they get blocked, you are not going to win no matter how well you play otherwise!

Move the back checkers forward early on to keep them in contact with the rest of your checkers. You don’t want them to lose contact (ie. be over six points away) from the rest of your checkers. Losing contact leaves the back checkers vulnerable for attacks and blocking.

Couple of tips about moving your your back checkers:
If you roll a double, use half of the roll to move the two back checkers forward. This way they move on the same turn and are not in any danger of getting hit. Using both of the rolls to move your back checkers is somewhat wasteful, though. You should use the other half of the double to make some important point elsewhere on the board. With a small double (ones - threes) it may even be wise to make two points and worry about the back checkers bit later.

You often roll combinations where you can really use only one of the numbers rolled - the other one would leave other checkers too vulnerable. In that case use that other number to split your back checkers! It is always a little risky to split them, but you don’t win any backgammon matches without taking risks. After splitting your back checkers get them together again as soon as you can. Leaving them split will hinder your game, as your opponent can attack them and force you to spend time bringing them back into the game from the bar.

Final words

When you do reach your early game goals you can really look at the game ahead of you with confidence and concentrate on the essentials instead of firefighting problems that seem to be appearing out of nowhere. Those seemingly random problems are often just a result of a bad start, so keep it cool, stay focused and take the initiative by playing aggressively from the first roll and your on your way to winning many, many games!

In backgammon primes are consecutive points made by the same player, i.e. points next to each other with two or more checkers on a point. Six point prime, or full prime is the most effective weapon known in backgammon as any opponent’s checkers are trapped behind your full prime until it is is broke. So once you’ve managed to build one, you know you are the clear favorite to win the game. Actually the question is not any more whether you aregoing to win the game, but whether you’ll be winning with a gammon.

Priming game is explained in a separate article, this article is focusing on the strategical elements of the full prime.

Attacking with a full prime

To secure the gammon, you need to move the full prime safely. To do so, you want to get as many extra checkers as possible near the prime. Usually this is not a difficult task, since having a six point prime seriously messes up your opponents game. You can just bring your back checkers forward, as it really doesn’t matter if they get hit or not - your opponent is not going to be any closer to victory as he’ll be stuck behind your prime!
When you have the extra checkers at hand and you are ready to attack, move the prime by rolling it forward. Move the checkers from back of the prime to right in front of it. This way the prime moves slowly but steadily and your opponent has very little he can do about it. Once all your checkers are on your home board, bear them off the board as usual.
Always be aggressive when you have a six point prime. As explained above, being hit is not a real concern as the opponents checkers will remain stuck behind your prime. Sometimes it even is optimal to get hit and spend a few turns on the bar watching how your opponent’s game breaks down as he can’t move his back checkers. The only way your prime can break down is when you can’t move your extra checkers and you are forced to break the prime. The key to limit the chances of having to break your full prime is to always move your back checkers forward towards the prime when ever you can.

Note on doubling

If you have a good game going on and it looks as if you can build a six point prime in a few turns, double! If you double once you have created your full prime you are too late - your opponent will just resign. And of course that’s something you don’t want because a full prime gives you a great chance to win with a gammon.

If you failed to double before you made a full prime, don’t double any more but just keep on playing. You are likely going to win the game so go for the points you can get. And who knows, perhaps you’ll even be able to score a backgammon!

Defending against a six point prime

Be sure you know what to do if your opponent builds a six point prime, because that’s pretty much the worst that can happen to you. You must concentrate on building your back game and making points on your home board. This way you are ready to make the most of it when to opportunity arises to hit a blot.Back game is explained in a separate article, we’ll just have a look at a few important elements.
You don’t want to hit if you will be still behind the six-point prime after hitting! See, if you go an hit your opponent’s checker and your opponent will spend a couple of turns on the bar, you will very likely be forced to move your checkers on your homeboard and as a result nicely break your homeboard setup. However, if hitting breaks your opponent’s six point prime and you’ll have only a 5-point prime to tackle, go for it! That could be your last chance to win the game.

You can also consider hitting, if you have a strong home board. By strong I mean that you have something like points 2-5 secured. This way there is always a small chance that after your opponent’s checker enters from the bar once you have hit it, he’ll roll small numbers and he will be the one who will eventually have to break his prime. This situation is quite rare and you really need to be careful to decide whether hitting is worth the risk.

Finally, unlike in a case of a smaller blockade, you don’t want to leave your checker right in front of the prime! Leaving a blot in front of a six point prime is a great way of getting steamrolled. If the checker right in front of the prime gets hit, you could be witnessing the the following scenario: your blot in front of the prime gets hit, you spend a turn on the bar, your opponent makes the point, you spend a turn on the bar, your opponent makes another point etc. So take my word for it and avoid leaving a blot in front of your opponent’s six point prime and focus on getting your back game together.

In short: if you have been caught behind a full prime, the best thing you can do is to make a point right in fron of it and slowly build your home board and to hope that luck is on your side. Thats really all there is to it - the best way of defending against a six point prime is to never allow your opponent to build one!

Conclusions

If you have even the slightest chance of building a six point prime, take it! It will not only win the game for you, but it will also drive your opponent mad at the same time. Playing behind a prime is the most frustrating situation possible in backgammon. And that’s why you should attack with full force if you notice your opponent slowly getting his six point prime together! If you can muster up any kind of an offensive maneuver, do so. You want to fight the prime before it is build, not after.

In order to be able to make the right moves at the right time you need to know how your backgammon game is going. Sounds obvious, but at times it can be quite hard to determine in Backgammon who is actually leading the game. Pip count is just the tool for this job. It can be used to determine which of the players is ahead and therefore helps to decide wheter an aggressive or safe maneuver is required in a given situation. When used correctly, pip count can be the single most effective tool in the backgammon player’s toolbelt.

What is pip count?

Pip count is a simple concept. In short, it is the number of “steps” your checkers need to take before they are off the board. Backgammon is a racing game and pip count shows who is ahead in the race.

Offline Backgammon players need to calculate the pip count themselves, which can be quite a task, but when played online the pip count for both players is shown automatically.

Using the pip count

Knowing the current pip count is so important, because it can help decide your next move. Being ten percent ahead in the pip count tells you that you are currently the favorite to win, if your checkers don’t get hit. The opposite is true also: being ten percent or more behind tells that you are currently loosing, so taking risks and being aggressive is the way to go.

In the lead

Being ahead in the pip count dictates safe, risk free playing. Since you are already ahead in the race, try not to leave any blots for your opponent to hit. Be conservative on your decisions on when to hit and leave a blot and when to play safe. Hitting isn’t of course forbidden, but being ahead in the race (especially in the mid-late game) is not the time to be overly agressive. Leave as few blots as possible and let your opponent be agressive and make mistakes. Playing this way helps you keep your lead and makes you the big favorite to win the game.

Turning the game around

When you are behind in the pip count, you are free to take chances. There is no reason to hold back, as playing safe is only going to cost you the game. The bigger the difference in pip count, the greater the risks you can and must take to turn the game around. Hitting blots even when it leaves your own blots on the board is the way to go!

Being behind in the pip count also tells you that you need to maintain contact with your opponent. Even if a tempting opportunity rises to jump your checkers over your opponent’s blockade, don’t do it. He is not holding you back - you are holding him back!

Things to consider besides the pip count

Pip count is of course not the only measure of how well you are doing. Other things worth considering is the situations of the home boards: if you get hit, can you enter? If you hit, can your opponent enter? And what about back checkers? Has one or both of them escaped? Even the distribution of the checkers is important. Having ones checkers in a few big stacks severely limits mobility.

These other factors can sometimes outweigh the importance of pip count. For example even though you are behind, it may not be wise to hit and leave a blot, if your opponent has his home board covered and is highly likely to both enter and hit your blot on the same turn.

To sum it all up

When you you find yourself contemplating between different moves and don’t know which one is the correct one to make, take a look at the current pip count. It just may be the factor that helps you decide the correct move to make - and making correct moves often results in a positive cash flow to your bank account…