Ok I will have to ask this one again since none of you slackers bothered to answer it four hours ago:?

Question

What are the best strategies to win at backgammon?

Answer 1

If you are at someone else's house playing tell them that their casserole is burning and while they run to check it change your dice to good numbers.

Answer 2

roll good numbers on the dice

Answer 3

idjk i learned it once but forgot it b/c it was a crappy game i would pick a new game to master

Answer 4

Well, unless you get the luckiest run of rolls in history, it'll be impossible not to ever leave a man open (i.e. by itself) during a game.

One thing to keep in mind is that the most common number to come up in dice rolls is six, not seven.  Because each die is treated as a separate move, the number six comes up (in one form or another, either on 1 die or a combination of both dice) more often than any other number. You can list the 36 dice rolls and see for yourself how many times each number comes up, either by itself on one die or as a total of both dice.

So sometimes, if you HAVE to leave a man open, leave the guy open who will have the lowest chance of being hit.

When you roll, note the difference between the two dice (e.g. if  you roll a 5-2, the difference in the dice is 3)... then look for men that you have on the board that are 3 spaces apart... it's often a good move to move the man furthest away from home the larger number of  spots (five) , and then cover it with the man that is now 3 spots away...  e.g.   you roll a 5-2, you have a man on pip #9 and another on pip #12... you move one guy from #12 to #7 (with the 5 roll) and the other guy from #9 to #7 (with the 2 roll).

It sometimes can take some practice to know whether to keep a man back (to potentially hit your opponent late in the game) or to "cut and run" (meaning to move the last of your men past your opponent so it then becomes a race for each of you to get your guys home and off the board).

There are also many versions of the game which can make it more interesting.  A couple of these are:

1) "Acey-Deucey"... the rules are the same as regular backgammon, except when a player rolls a 1-2  

When a player rolls a 2-1, they get to do the following:

1) Play the 1-2

2) then play ANY double you wish

3) then you get to roll again

You must be able to use both ends of the 1-2 roll in order to take advantage of the bonuses.   In other words, if you have a man on the bar and you roll a 1-2, if you can't bring him in on either the 1 or 2, then you don't get to play the rest of the bonuses.

If, after playing the 1-2 and  the double of your choice, you roll ANOTHER 1-2 on your second roll, the same bonuses apply.  You play the 1-2, then any double, then you roll again.

Another version (not sure if it has a name) is one in which, once you start bearing off men at the end of the game, you're not allowed to move any of the men in your home area, and you must get the EXACT roll required to take the man off the board (i.e. if your six pip is empty  and you have men on your five pip, you can't take a guy off of # 5 when you roll a 6, as you normally could...all men can only be taken off with exact rolls)  ... you can try to arrange your men evenly among your six home pips prior to bearing the first man off, but once you bear a man off, then all the other men are frozen on their spots, and must come off only with exact rolls.

One of the advantages of playing either one of these versions is that, no matter how far ahead in the game a player is, it's always theoretically possible for the other player to come back and win (with the right combination of lucky rolls)... this would not be the case in regular backgammon, in which it sometimes becomes mathematically impossible for a player to come from behind and win, if they're too far behind.

Answer 5

Who cares

Answer 6

i don't know

Answer 7

I know it but since we are slackers I'm not saying. Did you ever think some of us didn't see your question the first time?

Answer 8

The first thing is to remember that your opponent might make moves that ruin your strategy, so you may have to modify.

Never leave one of your guys alone on a space.

Try to get all your pieces to your half of the board before your opponent moves his two next to your home.  Then try to make it so that there aren't many spaces for your opponent to land.  If he can't make moves, he loses turns.

On my first roll, I like to do one of several things: If I roll 6:1, I move two pieces so the my last space before the bar is full (then opponent can't move his two with double 6); If I roll 3:1, 4:2, 5:3, 6:4 I like to move one piece from my 6 space and one from my 8 space into home territory because that will be one less space for my opponent to use trying to get away from my home; If I roll doubles, I try to get my guys out of the opponents territory but never leaving one of my guys on a space alone.

I do attack my opponents, but usually only when I don't have to leave one of my people open.  If you do attack, make sure you start filling up the spaces where they bear off and never leave one my hisself.

Good luck - hope they work for you.

Answer 9

Mind control