1. Running game (the race)
Both sides have disengaged: no contact, no shots possible. The game is now a pure dice race, and the winner is simply the lower pip count.
- Goal: bear off efficiently. Avoid wastage — big rolls spent where small ones were needed.
- Choose it when: you lead the race, contact is unlikely, and your back checkers have escaped.
- Cube: races follow well-known numbers — roughly an 8% lead to double, 10% to redouble, and the taker should be within about 12%. The exact formulas live in pip counting.
2. Priming game
Build a wall of consecutive made points in front of the opponent's checkers. A 4-prime stops 4s, 5s and 6s; a 5-prime leaves a single escape number; a 6-prime is impenetrable — trapped checkers cannot move at all.
- Goal: trap one or more checkers behind the wall, then roll the prime home while bearing in.
- Build on the golden points: the 5-point first, then the 4-point, the bar point (7), and the 20-point on defense.
- Combined with a hit, a full prime can produce a closeout — the opponent sits on the bar with nowhere to enter while you bear in at leisure.
3. Blitz
The blitz is a cavalry charge: hit, hit again, and make home-board points as fast as the dice allow, aiming to close the opponent out while they dance on the bar.
- Trigger: an early hit with home-board strength behind it — the opening 3-1 (making the 5-point) is the classic launchpad.
- Payoff: a closeout with a second checker caught is close to game over, and gammons are frequent.
- Cost: high variance. A stalled blitz leaves blots everywhere and hands the game back with interest.
4. Holding game
You're behind in the race but you hold a strong point in the opponent's territory — ideally the 20-point (the golden anchor) or the 18-point. From that advanced anchor you wait.
- Goal: the opponent must eventually bear in past your anchor; when they break a point or leave a shot, you hit and win the reversed race.
- Discipline: don't break the anchor early. It is your insurance policy — as long as it stands, you always have chances.
- Watch your timing: you need enough spare pips to keep legal moves without crunching your home board while you wait.
5. Back game
The most desperate, dramatic, and difficult plan: hold two or more anchors deep in the opponent's home board (their 1-, 2- or 3-points) after your position has collapsed elsewhere.
- Best anchor pairs: 2-3, 1-3, or 2-4 (from the opponent's numbering). The deeper the anchors, the later the shots come — and the harder it is to recycle hit checkers.
- Goal: stall with good timing, wait for the forced blot as they bear in, hit it, and contain it behind your rebuilt wall.
- Warning: a back game without timing and a target is just a slow loss — usually a gammonish one. Most “back games” you're offered are exactly that; see common mistakes.
Tactical concepts that power every plan
- The golden points. Your 5-point is the best offensive point in the game; the opponent's 5-point (your 20) is the best defensive anchor. Fight for both.
- Builders and blots. Position spares where they combine to make points. Leave the blots that cost little if hit; never the ones that lose the game.
- Slotting. Deliberately blot on a key point intending to cover next roll — high risk, justified mostly for the 5-point when gammons aren't looming.
- Duplication. Arrange your position so the opponent needs the same number for two different jobs — one 4 can't both hit you and make their bar point.
- Diversification. The mirror image for yourself: spread your good numbers so many rolls do useful work.
- Race vs contact. The moment contact is lost, every positional consideration evaporates and only the pip count matters. Recognizing that moment — and cubing on it — is a skill in itself.
- Pay now or pay later. Often the right play accepts a small shot today to avoid a catastrophic one tomorrow.
- Cube leverage. Owning the cube is an asset in every plan — see cube theory.
Next: the 15 opening rolls — where every game plan begins.