In astonishingly general terms, there are three general plans used. You need to be agile enough to switch strategies instantly as the action of the game unfolds.

The Blockade

This is comprised of creating a 6-deep wall of checkers, or at a minimum as deep as you can achieve, to lock in the competitor’s checkers that are on your 1-point. This is deemed to be the most acceptable strategy at the start of the match. You can assemble the wall anyplace between your eleven-point and your 2-point and then shift it into your home board as the game progresses.

The Blitz

This is composed of locking your home board as quickly as possible while keeping your opponent on the bar. e.g., if your challenger rolls an early two and moves one piece from your 1-point to your 3-point and you then roll a five-five, you can play 6/1 6/1 eight/three 8/3. Your challenger is then in big-time trouble taking into account that they have 2 checkers on the bar and you have locked half your inner board!

The Backgame

This strategy is where you have two or more checkers in your competitor’s inner board. (An anchor spot is a point occupied by at least two of your pieces.) It needs to be used when you are significantly behind as this action much improves your chances. The strongest locations for anchors are towards your competitor’s smaller points and either on adjoining points or with a single point separating them. Timing is important for an effectual backgame: at the end of the day, there is no point having two nice anchors and a complete wall in your own inner board if you are then required to break down this straight away, while your opposer is moving their checkers home, seeing that you don’t have any other spare pieces to move! In this situation, it is more tolerable to have pieces on the bar so that you can preserve your position up till your competitor gives you a chance to hit, so it can be an excellent idea to attempt and get your opponent to hit them in this case!