Characteristics of a Holding Game
One typical situation a player will find himself in is when he has one or two anchors on his opponent's side of the board and his other checkers are already in his side of the board. One particular strategy a player can use in this situation is to do a holding game.
Basically the strategy behind the holding game involves waiting for an opening and then making a hit when it comes. The other strategy of holding game is to wait for a chance for the trapped checkers to make a quick run for it especially when a double turns up on the dice.
There are conditions that must be met before a holding game is probable. Here are the conditions that must be present before we can discern a holding game to be probable for us. First characteristic we'll deal with is the presence of anchors.
The presence of anchors that are positioned on the opponent's side of the board is the first signal we will notice as a defining characteristic of a holding game. These would be positioned either on our opponent's home board or outer board. A player may have one or two (or perhaps even more) anchors on the opponent's side of the board to constitute a holding game.
Another characteristic of the priming game is that one or both players have set up primes on their home boards. The prime would have to be situated at home board or it seems to be getting there. The prime would serve as the blockade for the back men. Either the back men are trapped at the edge of the prime or other checkers may have already jumped over them.
The prime in a holding game is not supposed to be 4 points long or longer than that. If in case that the prime has grown as much as four points or even longer the game then shifts to a priming game. In a holding game the back men have a clear possibility of escape.
Another variation of this a holding game situation is that the back men are already past the prime, but there is a threat that the opponent might make a hit. That would send the back men to the bar and eventually behind the prime again.
The last characteristic of a holding game is that both players have most of their checkers tucked in safely on their side of the board (these may have been used to build a prime just in case a hit is in the making).
With all the above conditions satisfied the only options available to one or both players is to wait for a chance to make a run for it when the coast is clear, or to hit when one a chance presents itself.
These are the characteristics of the holding game. When a players find themselves in the said situation they now have a clear choice for strategy by playing a holding game.