Backgammon glossary
Backgammon has a vocabulary all its own — some of it old, some of it borrowed from the betting table. Here is every term you are likely to meet in a game or a strategy guide, explained in plain English and cross-linked to the guides where each idea is used.
A
Ace point
The 1-point, the lowest point in your home board. An ace-point game is a desperate holding game played from an anchor there.
Acey-deucey
A roll of 1-2. In the variant of the same name it carries a bonus; in the standard game it is simply one of the more awkward opening rolls.
Anchor
A point held by two or more of your checkers inside your opponent's home board. An anchor gives you a safe landing spot and the right to hit back, and is the backbone of a holding game.
B
Back game
A strategy in which you deliberately hold two anchors deep in the opponent's home board, hoping to hit them late and contain the checker while they bear in.
Backgammon
A win worth triple, scored when the loser still has a checker in the winner's home board or on the bar. Also the name of the game itself.
Bar
The raised divider down the centre of the board. Checkers that have been hit are placed on the bar and must re-enter before their owner can make any other move.
Bar point
The 7-point, next to the bar. Making your bar point is a strong early move because it extends a blockade in front of the opponent's back checkers.
Bear off
To remove a checker from the board. You may only begin bearing off once all fifteen of your checkers have reached your home board.
Beaver
An immediate redouble made by a player who has just been doubled but believes they are actually ahead, keeping ownership of the cube. Played only by prior agreement.
Blitz
An aggressive plan that attacks loose enemy checkers and tries to close them out on the bar while building your home board, aiming for a quick gammon.
Blockade
A wall of made points built to trap an opponent's checkers behind it; a full six-point version is a prime.
Blot
A single checker alone on a point. A blot can be hit by an opposing checker landing on that point and sent to the bar.
Builder
A spare checker placed where it can help make a new point on a future roll.
C
Cash
To double and have the opponent pass, winning the current stake outright. The cash point is the win probability at which the opponent should drop.
Checker
One of the fifteen round pieces each player moves around the board. Also called a stone, man or counter.
Closed board
A home board with all six points made. An opponent with a checker on the bar cannot re-enter against a closed board and loses every turn until a point opens.
Cocked dice
Dice that land tilted, on a checker, or outside the right-hand side of the board. They do not count and must be re-rolled.
Crawford rule
In match play, the single game played after one player first reaches one point short of victory, during which the doubling cube may not be used.
Crossover
A checker moving from one quadrant of the board into the next, towards home. Counting crossovers is a quick way to judge a race.
Cube
Short for the doubling cube — the six-sided marker (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64) that tracks the current stake of the game.
D
Dance
To fail to enter a checker from the bar because both numbers land on points the opponent has made. Also called staying on the bar.
Direct shot
A position where a blot can be hit with a single die, so by any of the numbers one to six. Direct shots are far more dangerous than indirect ones.
Diversification
Placing your own checkers so that many different numbers are useful next turn, maximising your share of helpful rolls.
Double
An offer to double the value of the game, made before rolling. The opponent either takes and plays on at the higher stake or drops and concedes the current value.
Doubles
Rolling the same number on both dice. Doubles are played four times rather than twice.
Duplication
Arranging your position so the opponent needs the same number for two different good plays, since one die can do only one of them — cutting their useful rolls.
E
Effective pip count
A pip count adjusted for wastage and distribution, giving a truer measure of racing chances than the raw count, especially in the bear-off.
Equity
The average value of a position, expressed in points per game, taking every possible outcome into account. Cube and checker decisions aim to maximise it.
G
Gammon
A win worth double, scored when the loser has not borne off a single checker.
Golden point
The 5-point, widely held to be the most valuable point on the board; the 20-point (your opponent's 5-point) is the golden anchor.
H
Hit
To land on a point holding a single enemy checker, sending that checker to the bar.
Holding game
A patient strategy built around keeping an anchor, waiting for a shot at an enemy blot rather than racing.
Home board
The quadrant containing each player's points 1 to 6, where checkers must gather before bearing off.
I
Indirect shot
A hit that needs both dice added together, such as hitting at a distance of eight. It can be blocked if the intermediate point is occupied.
J
Jacoby rule
A money-play rule stating that gammons and backgammons count as a single game unless the cube has been turned, which discourages players from declining to double.
M
Market loser
A roll after which the opponent would no longer take a double. Many market losers make a position volatile and argue for doubling now.
Match play
A series of games played to a set number of points, as opposed to money play. The doubling cube and the score together shape correct strategy.
Midpoint
The 13-point, where each player starts with their largest stack of five checkers.
O
Outfield
The points outside the home boards — the 7-point to 18-point region — where checkers travel on their way around the board.
P
Pip
A single unit of distance on the board. The number rolled on a die is its pip value.
Pip count
The total number of pips all your checkers must still travel to come home and bear off. Both players begin level on 167.
Point
One of the twenty-four triangles on the board. To make a point is to occupy it with two or more of your checkers, denying it to the opponent.
Prime
A wall of consecutive made points. A six-prime, six points in a row, cannot be jumped by any single die and traps an enemy checker completely.
Priming game
A strategy of building and rolling a prime to trap an enemy checker, rather than racing or attacking loosely.
R
Race
A position with little or no contact left, in which the game is decided purely by who bears off first. The pip count tells you who is ahead.
Re-enter
To bring a checker from the bar back into play, on a point in the opponent's home board matching one of the dice.
Recube
A double offered by the player who already owns the doubling cube. It usually needs a slightly stronger position than a first double.
Rollout
Playing a position out many times, by computer or by hand, to estimate its true equity. Modern opening and cube theory rests on engine rollouts.
S
Slot
To place a single checker on a point you hope to make next turn, accepting the risk of being hit in exchange for tempo.
Split
To move your two back checkers onto different points, giving them more ways to escape and more chances to anchor.
Stake
The value of the current game, set by the doubling cube.
T
Take
To accept a double and play on at the higher stake. The take point is the level of winning chances below which accepting becomes a losing decision.
Take point
The minimum share of winning chances you need to accept a double — roughly 25% in a simple game, adjusted for gammons, the score and cube ownership.
Timing
Whether your spare moves will last until a hoped-for shot or break arrives. Good timing keeps a holding game or back game alive; bad timing collapses it.
Too good
A position so strong that doubling would be a mistake, because playing on for an undoubled gammon is worth more than the points a double could win.
W
Wastage
Pips lost during the bear-off when a die is higher than any checker it can remove, lifting a checker from a lower point and wasting the difference.
If a term you are after is missing, it is most likely explained where it matters: the rules in how to play, counting in the 13-count, and the cube in the doubling cube. The variants bring a few terms of their own, such as pinning and the narde-family blocking rules.