Author: Orad Reshef

Priming game plans are the next category of backgammon game we will discuss. Here, you are aiming to build a 6-prime, which is a continuous stretch of 6 made points. These games are surprisingly tricky to play. A prototypical example of a priming play can be found below, lifted from Bill Robertie’s excellent 501 Essential…

If your opponent is succeeding with his racing game plan, then you need to give up on yours and start looking for a hit to catch up. This is the essence of the holding game. You are intentionally hanging back to maximize your contact, and you are trying to build out your homeboard to trap…

The first game plan is by far the simplest, and is the one most players unconsciously play when they first pick up the dice: the racing game plan. When you’re racing, you aren’t getting distracted by what your or your opponent’s boards look like, and you’re just trying to rush your checkers home ASAP. If…

Having completed the module on safe play, we almost have a complete foundation upon which we can start building some more advanced intuition. First, we need to learn to recognize the larger patterns that typically appear in a game of backgammon. Backgammon checker play can be categorized into 5 main game plans: Being able to…

So you finally managed to collect all of your checkers in your homeboard, entering the bear off stage of the game. If your opponent has broken contact and has left your homeboard, then it’s a straight race and you are rushing recklessly to remove as many checkers as possible on each roll. But what if…

One of the main goals in a game of backgammon is to safety your backcheckers. Those are the two little guys that start every game stranded on your 24-pt: These checkers have the farthest to go, and to make matters worse, your opponent Gary is doing everything in his power to keep them in his…