Backgammon blitz: attack hard, close the board

A blitz is a direct assault on checkers that sit — or have been hit into — your home board. You hit, cover, and make points until the board is closed with one or more opposing checkers on the bar. Unlike a prime, which traps checkers behind a wall, a blitz tries to put them on the bar and keep them out while you close the door.

The blitz sits among the five game plans in backgammon strategy; this page is the deep dive on attacking alone. It often aims at a gammon — see how to win or save a gammon — because checkers stuck on the bar while you bear off are how many gammons are born.

A blitz tends to be right when several signals line up — not when only one of them is true:

• Targets in your home board. Opposing blots or a checker already on the bar give you something to hit now.
• No enemy anchor. Without a safe point in your board, they cannot park a checker and wait out the storm.
• Home-board strength. Two or three made points (often more) already cut entering rolls and make return hits less dangerous.
• Builders aimed at the attack. Spare checkers a few pips behind the points you want — builders — so many rolls hit or cover.
• Checker concentration in the attacking zone. Stacks and spares near your home board, not stranded on the midpoint or further back.

The attack is a sequence of small jobs, not a single hit:

• Point on the blot when you can. Making a point on an opposing blot both hits and covers — often stronger than a bare hit that leaves a return shot.
• Hit and cover. When you cannot make the point, hit and leave a blot only if many rolls cover next turn and their board is still weak. Hitting decisions in general are in when to hit.
• Bring builders forward. Idle stacks waste the rolls that would have covered or made the next point.
• Put a second checker on the bar when it is on offer. Two checkers against a strong board enter far less often than one — the charts are in entering from the bar.
• Prefer making points over endless loose hits. Loose hits that do not improve the board tend to rebound; points take entering numbers away for good.

The aim of a blitz is often a closed board — all six home-board points made — with one or more checkers on the bar. Against a closed board, a checker on the bar cannot enter at all until a point opens. That is maximum pressure: every roll you bear off while they dance raises gammon chances.

• Fill the gaps in order of value. Deep points and the ones that kill the most entering numbers usually matter most; exact priority depends on where their checkers sit.
• Do not strip your last covers casually. A close-out that leaves you with no spare to play can force you to break a point and let them in.
• Bear off with contact in mind. Once the board is closed, clearing against checkers still on the bar is a race-plus-contact problem — see bearing off and gammons.

A blitz collapses when the attack runs out of steam before the board closes. Common failure modes:

• The opponent makes an anchor. Once they hold a point in your home board, you can no longer close them out. Stop endless loose hitting and switch — typically to priming in front of the anchor, or to a race/holding plan if the pip count says so.
• Out of builders. Hitting without checkers left to cover or make points leaves return shots that can reverse the game.
• Scattered blots. An attack that leaves several of your own blots gives them a shot that undoes the whole sequence.

Failed blitzes often become priming games: the same home-board points that were meant for a close-out become the start of a wall. Reading that switch early tends to save more games than forcing one more hit.

When you are the one under fire, the priority is usually to make an anchor in their home board before the door closes. An anchor ends the pure close-out threat and forces them to change plans. Details in our guide to anchors.

• Enter to make or cover. Coming in from the bar onto a blot that makes a point — or covering a blot you already own — is often worth more than a random advance.
• Do not waste last spares. Checkers that could make the anchor next turn should not be scattered for small gains elsewhere.
• Leave the board when staying is hopeless. If their board is nearly closed and you still have no anchor, sometimes running remaining checkers is the only path left — a race judgment, not a pride contest. Pip count helps: see pip count.

Attacking positions swing fast, so the doubling cube often comes early. Soften every claim — the engine at the real score is the clean check — and remember that gammon danger changes take/pass a lot.

• Doubles tend to be strong when the attack is rolling: multiple checkers under fire, a board that is filling, and no opposing anchor.
• Takes get narrower as a second checker hits the bar and your board strengthens; a bare race take can become a pass once gammon chances rise.
• Too-good territory appears when you can play on for the gammon instead of cashing — same idea as in doubling strategy. In money play, Jacoby (if in force) changes whether a gammon without a cube matters; see gammons and the cube.
• Match score still overrides money instincts. At some away scores you take, pass, or play on differently; see match play and the cube in match play.

Blitz sense comes from choosing when to attack, sustaining hits without scattering, and switching plans the moment an anchor appears. On Megammon you can play the bot with no sign-up, play a friend, or play ranked matches online.

New to the five plans? Start with backgammon strategy, then come back here. Want the entering numbers behind a close-out? Open backgammon odds. Ready to convert an attack into a gammon — or save one? See gammons.