Backgammon strategy: avoid leaving blots
Single checkers, called blots, can be hit and sent back. Learn to count your blots and choose the play that keeps your checkers safe. Winning ideas · lesson 2 of 4.
The lesson in words
Every blot is a risk. If your opponent rolls the number that reaches it, it gets hit and loses all the ground it had covered.
When you have a choice, prefer plays that leave no blots, or leave them where they’re hard to hit.
You have a blot on your 5 point and rolled 3-1.
Try it: Play the roll so that no checker is left alone.
Play safe when you can. Next: building a prime.