Making a Point

Okay, lets start with the basics. What does it mean to make a point? Well, one thing it is not is getting a word in edgewise when your wife chastises you for staying up too late playing video games on line.

Here is a very good definition I found at Backgammon Galore:

You make a point when you bring two or more checkers together on the same point. You now own that point and your opponent may not land or touch down there as long as your checkers remain.

And this is very important. It means that these pieces are safe, and this is fundamental to strategy. A basic idea is to keep as many pieces safe as possible for as long as you can while still progressing your pieces around the board. Just remember, as you play, it will be perfectly impossible to maintain this state of perfect safety for the entire game. The player will occasionally have to take chances by leaving pieces on positions which are not pointed, so to speak.

A good player will know when and where to do this. The pieces that should be risked are those which the opponent has the least opportunity to remove from the board or in which the player has the least forward motion invested.

Get my point?