Fun with Backgammon Blots

Blots in backgammon are not so much fun. But there are ways on how to find them fun, too, in the game. In fact, blots-hunting is fun when we are firmly positioned on the board and the enemy is not.

Blots are backgammon points that are occupied by lone checker pieces. If the blot is ours, chances are, the opponent is having a good time trying to hit it with a piece. If the blot is owned by the opponent, that's when we find blots fun to play with in backgammon. Blots are good objects of a win strategy.

We should always watch out for enemy blots. These are points where single enemy checker pieces are on. To hit them we simply have to place a checker piece we own on the same point the lone enemy checker piece is on. But this is not as simple as it seems. Everything here depends on the dictates of the dice roll.

The dice roll dictates what point our moved checker piece lands on. The enemy may have lots of blots we can target a hit with but unless the dice roll comes up with a dice result that would land our checker piece on an enemy blot we hit nothing—and worse, it may also end up being a blot the enemy may soon hit. Thus, blots in backgammon can be fun for the player who has less of them, and a pain in the neck for the player who has lots of them.

The use of the dice makes the game about 50 percent dependent on pure luck. This makes the game so much fun when combined with wit and skills. If the game were just wit and skills dependent, the favor (and fun) would always land on the more witty and skillful player. But the element of luck is what gives chance to the lesser witty and skillful player. We never can know whom the dice will favor next. So there's the fun.

Blots should be defended by turning them into primes. Primes are when points have two or more allied pieces on them. So the fun again is when the players try to race each other turning their blots into primes. When players race each other hitting and turning blots into primes, they have double the fun.

Hence, blots in backgammon may work for or against us, depending on the situation. But for sure, they always are fun to have on the board.