Since 2017, Bryan Mitchell Wood has served as a data management executive at Bank of America in Charlotte, NC. In his free time, Bryan M. Wood enjoys mountain biking, drawing, and painting. He is also an avid backgammon player.
With a history dating back 5,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, backgammon is one of the world's oldest board games. While the game's rules have remained the same, various strategies have evolved over the years. The following strategies can improve your game and help you win more backgammon matches.
The running game is a classic backgammon strategy. The idea is to get your checkers to your home board as quickly as possible. This strategy's success depends on your rolls, so you should avoid playing a running game if you start out with weak rolls. Also, this strategy works best if you're ahead of your opponent.
You can also take a more offensive strategy and attack your opponent's vulnerable checkers whenever possible. A single checker on a point is a "blot" and can be "hit" and bumped to the bar if you roll a number that allows you to land on the blot. This strategy is effective because it sets your opponent back some number of pips and requires that they take additional rolls to get back on the board and proceed with the game. It's often the best option if you delay your opponent to get ahead.
Another common strategy is priming. In backgammon, a "prime" is a sequence of four or more made points in a row. This creates a wall of checkers that your opponent can't get past without rolling a five or a six. In addition to delaying your opponent's advance, priming gives your other advancing checkers safe places to land. Combining priming with attacking your opponent's vulnerable pieces can be very effective.
