Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE

F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

NAME:Biasura, Jhazreel Mae N. COURSE, BLOCK AND SECTION: BSA-2B

REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Imagine yourself as one of the checkers of the DAMA game and your struggles/problems as your
opponent. What strategies will you apply to reach the opposite side of the checkerboard to gain a king or to
win the game? What will you do to reach your goals despite of the hindrances that you are facing?
In at least 150-200 words, explain your answer

To give a brief introduction to the game, players start with 16 men lined up in two lines on
each side, jumping as far as possible. Men can move forward or sideways on one square, catching
by means of jumping. When the man reaches the back row, he rises into a dama at the end of the
round.

There are many strategies for winning dama. A player must know some basic strategies and
play with patience. One good thing about the game is that, practicing checkers/dama helps optimize
our strategy and thinking skills. With that, hone your skills as a checker as often as possible to
practice new strategies if you really want to learn how to win the game. Here are some tips to keep
in mind the next time you place the checker. There are basic but major tips that mustn't be ignored.
To begin with, keep your back row intact for as long as possible and don't move the back row. As
long as you have the back row, you have the finish line of defense to prevent your opponent from
crowning a point. When your opponent can crown one of his pieces, it is very difficult to fight.
Checkers is a game against which they are superior because they surpass them. Second, at the
beginning of the game, build a pyramid with chess and use your figure to form a pyramid shape.
The pyramid consists of three sections rightmost in the back row, two in front of it in the middle row,
and one in front of it in the first row. Hold this structure as long as possible and use the outside to
make large movements. Although the far left of the back row is not technically part of the pyramid,
keep it as long as possible to keep your back row straight. It takes some practice to figure out how
long to hold a pyramid and when to break it in a real checkerboard game. Third, swap one for two,
as long as that doesn't open you up to damaging attacks, find a way to swap one chip for two. Even
if you lose one chip for every two of your chips, you will still excel. Try to work this out with your
external characters while keeping your pyramid and especially your back row intact. Fourth, don't
charge while the temptation to crown chess as fast as possible is tempting, leaving the remaining
pieces on the road won't help. If you've crushed the rest of the chess pieces to crown one or two,
chances are your opponent has already crowned several. In that case, you are not in any better
shape than before. In fact, you could be worse off. Take time to defend yourself instead of facing the
other side.
Topping it all, these strategies are nothing but a few in order to win the game. Remember, there are
no objective and reliable techniques, it’s up to the player’s integration of all the basic skills and
knowledge about the game.