backgames

Noun

backgame (plural backgames)

1. A game in which a player blocks the opponent's progress by forming two or more points in the opponent's home board.
   • The strategy of the backgame is very similar to the defensive strategy discussed earlier; i.e., you begin to make your points inside your inner table and wait for him to leave a blot.1977, Nicolaos S. Tzannes, Basil Tzannes, Backgammon Games and Strategies, page 65
2. An indirect strategy in which one attempts to achieve one's goals by maneuvering behind the scenes.
   • This doctrine, once fully established, will add a great facility to business, and prevent unnecessary delays: for example —in former times a minister would have been exceedingly hampered with such a promise as we have here cited: he would have shifted, and delayed, and played the backgame to have...1836, Junius