Quick Backgammon Glossary

Jargon is important in every hobby and so it is in backgammon too. This glossary covers most of the terms you will come across in the online backgammon scene.

Ace point
Number one point. The one you don’t want to make too early.

Anchor
Point you control on your opponent’s home board. Anchor is advanced if it is on his four - six point.

Automatic double
Rule used sometimes in offline backgammon. If both players roll the same number when deciding the starting player, the game is automatically doubled. This can happen unlimited number of times.

Backgame
Situation where player holds two or more anchors and tries to win by taking advantage of them.

Backgammon
Player who wins by a backgammon wins in such a way, that his opponent still has checkers on his home board or on the bar and he has not been able to bear any checkers off earlier. Winning by backgammon triples the value of the game.

Backmen, back checkers
The two checkers which start the game on opponent’s home board.

Bar
The part of board between inner and outer boards, where hit checkers are placed.

Bar point
Each players seven point.

Bear off
Removing the checkers from the game. First player to bear off all his checkers wins.

Beaver
Re-double. See backgammon doubling rules

Blitz
Aggressive strategy, where player aims to fill his home board quickly, hit a blot or two and thus shut his opponent out of the game.

Block
Point under players control, ie point with two or more own checkers.

Blot
Single checker on a point.

Builder
Checker meant to help build a block in the near future.

Closed board
Completely blocked home board.
Close out
Closed board combined with one or more checkers on the bar. The player who is closed out can’t do anything, until the other player starts to bear his checkers off.

Cover
To move a checker to a point with an own blot. Covering builds blocks.

Crawford rule
When a player is within one point of winning a match, the next game is played without doubling. See article The Crawford rule explained.

Cube
Another name for the doubling cube.

Double
To double the value of the game. See doubling cube rules.

Doubling cube
Cube that is used to keep track of the game’s current value.

Drop
To not accept a double.

End game
When both players are bearing off their checkers, they are playing the end game.

Enter
Come back to the game from the bar.

Gammon
Player wins by a gammon, if he has removed all his checkers from the board before his opponent has removed any of his. Winning by gammon doubles the value of the game.

Gap
Empty point in a middle of a bigger block.

Hit
When opponent moves his checker to a point where a lone checker of his opponent resides, the opponent’s checker is hit. The hit checker is placed on the bar, where it has to enter.

Holding game
Situation where both players have big blocks somewhere on opponent’s side of the board.

Home board
The quarter of the board where all the checkers have to be collected before they can be removed from the board.

Jacoby rule
If jacoby rule is in effect, gammons and backgammons are not worth anything in a non doubled game.

Key point
Very important points. In the beginning of the game both players five points are considered key points.

Lover’s leap
To move ones back checker to safety with a roll of 6 and 5.

Match
Backgammon match consists of one or more backgammon games and is played to a pre-determined point limit. New game is played every time the winning player doesn’t reach the point limit of the match.
Midpoint
Both players own 13 point.

Pick and pass
A move where player hits a blot on his home board and moves the hitting checker to safety.

Pip count
Number of points checkers have to move before they are off the board. See pip count article.

Point
1) Triangles on the board, along which the checkers move.
2) Each game is worth one or more points for the winner. When a player reaches the pre-determined point limit, he wins a match.
Quadrant
The board consists of four quadrants: both players home boards and outer boards.

Running game
Situation where there is very little contact, if any, left between players. Both are just trying to move their checkers to their home boards as quickly as possible and bear them off.

Shot
Chance to hit opponent’s blot (”Yee, I have a shot!”).

Slot
To place a checker on a point in the hopes that a) opponent doesn’t hit it and b) that the point can be made next turn.

Split
To break an own block. The two back checkers are often split.

Take
To accept a double. (”It was an easy take.”)

To make a point
To build a block on a point, ie. either move another checker to a point with an own blot or move two or more checkers to a point.

Value
Each game is worth one point for the winner. This value can be altered by doubling or winning by gammons and backgammons.