By Valentin Updated strategy intermediate game plans
A prime is a wall of consecutive points that the opponent's back checkers cannot jump, and a full six-point prime traps them completely. The priming game means building that wall in front of the opponent's checkers and rolling it home before it breaks.
This page assumes you know the rules and how a point is made.
Priming is the steadiest of the four game plans, the one you fall back on when a blitz stalls and the one that turns a lead in structure into a win.
Every Orion guide, from the setup to the cube, is on the Learn page if you want to fill a gap first.
What is a prime in backgammon?
Any run of consecutive made points. No die moves a checker more than six pips, so six points in a row form a wall that nothing behind it can cross. A five-point prime is nearly as strong: a checker sitting directly behind it escapes only with a 6, and only 11 of the 36 possible rolls contain one.
Where the prime stands matters as much as its length. The most useful primes sit between your 2 and your 9 points, close enough to home that they can later become your home board. A wall on your 8 to 13 points traps checkers just as well, but it has a long way to travel and tends to crack on the way.
Which points should you make first?
Your 5 point first, then your 4 point and your bar point (the 7 point), with the 6 and 8 points already yours from the start. Three of the best opening moves exist for exactly this reason: 3-1 makes your 5 point, 4-2 your 4 point and 6-1 your bar point. Hold the 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4 points and you have a five-point prime in front of the opponent's back checkers.
How do you roll a prime home?
A prime is only useful if it survives until you can close the board. Rolling it means moving the wall forward one point at a time without letting it shrink. Picture a six-point prime from your 8 point down to your 3 point, with an enemy checker trapped on your 1 point. You slot or make the 2 point at the front and release the 8 point at the back, and the wall now runs from 7 to 2. Do it again and the 1 point is all the trapped checker has left.
The rule of thumb is to break from the back and build at the front. A point given up at the back of the prime costs nothing, since the trapped checker cannot reach it; a gap in the middle or the front lets it escape.
What is timing in a priming game?
Timing is how long you can keep your prime without breaking it. Every roll has to be played somewhere, and once your spare checkers have nowhere useful to go, you must take checkers off your own wall. The player whose spares run out first loses the priming battle.
This is the one place in backgammon where being behind in the race helps. In a prime-versus-prime position, both sides have trapped checkers, and the side with more pips to play has more moves to make before anything breaks. Your pip count is therefore a measure of timing as much as of the race, and a player who counts it knows which wall will crack first.
What is a priming checklist?
- Who has the better prime, and how many enemy checkers sit behind it?
- Can you add a point at the front without leaving a blot the trapped checker can hit?
- How many spare checkers do you have that are not part of the wall, and how many rolls can they absorb?
- Does the opponent have a prime of their own? If so, who has the better timing?
- If the wall breaks next turn, where will the escaping checker be shot at from?
What are the most common priming mistakes?
- Breaking the front of the prime instead of the back, which opens the door for the trapped checker.
- Stripping the position: using every spare checker to make points, so that the next roll forces the wall to break.
- Building the prime too far from home, where it has to travel a long way before it is any use in the bear-in.
- Refusing to double when the prime is complete. A full prime with a checker trapped behind it is often the moment the cube should move.
How do you play against a prime?
Escape early, before the wall is built: back checkers are cheapest to run while the opponent has only two or three points in a row. If you are already trapped, keep an anchor so you cannot be attacked and closed out, and build your own board so that a late shot, if it comes, wins the game. The opponent's timing is your hope. Every roll they must play brings the wall closer to breaking, and when it does you need to be ready, which is the logic of the holding game and, in its extreme form, the back game.
How can I practise the priming game?
Play real games and watch for the turn when a five-point prime first appears, yours or the opponent's. From there, count spares before every move. Orion is free on iPhone and Android, and every roll can be checked at orion.arthea.ai/verify.