A
Ace point
This is the 1 point on the board. It is the last point before the bear off.
Anchor
This is the point that you occupy in your opponent's home board with two or more checkers. You start with an anchor on the ace point. It is also called a made point.
Advanced Anchor
This is an anchor positioned on your opponent's 4 point, 5 point or 6 point. See also Deep Anchor.
Back to top
B
Bar
This is the part of the board that separates the two halves. It is also called the rail. When checkers are hit, they are placed on the bar until they can rejoin the game.
Bear in
At this phase, you are moving all your checkers to your home board.
Bear off
At this phase, you have moved all your checkers to your home board (points 1-6) and are removing them from the board.
Beaver
When a player doubles and then his opponent redoubles immediately after.
Blitz
This is an aggressive style of play where you repeatedly hit your opponent’s blots in your home board in an effort to keep him on the bar and close him out of the game.
Backgammon
This is the name of the game as well as a winning type. In this situation, you bear off all your checkers before your opponent has started to bear off, and he has at least one checker in your home board or on the bar. You win three times the value of the doubling cube.
Bear off, Bearing off
The act of removing checkers from the board.
Block
A point occupied by two or more checkers and held for the purpose of holding back your opponent's progress.
Blot
The name for a single checker on a point that is vulnerable to being hit.
Builder
You use an available checker, either a blot or a spare, to make a new anchor without giving up an existing anchor.
Back to top
C
Checker
Backgammon pieces are called checkers, not ‘chips’.
Close Out
You make all six points on your home board while your opponent has a checker on the bar. He cannot move back into the game as long as his re-entry is blocked. Also called closed board.
Cover Point
To put a second checker on a blot, securing it and making the point.
Crawford Rule
This rule, named after John Crawford and used only in a series of games, states that any player who reaches match-point (needing only one more point to win) cannot use the doubling cube during the following game. A game without doubling is called a Crawford Game
Back to top
D
Dance
Having a checker waiting on the bar and failing to enter the game. Also called fail or flunk.
Deep anchor
An anchor on your opponent's 1 point, 2 point or 3 point. See also Advanced Anchor.
Direct shot
When your opponent can hit your checker by rolling 6 or less.
Double
Before a player rolls the dice, he may offer his opponent to double and continue the game at twice the current stakes. If the opponent refuses the double, he resigns the game and loses the current stakes. When a player accepts a double he becomes the owner of the doubling cube and only he can make the next double in the same game. This is a strategic advantage.
Double game
Another name for gammon.
Drop
See resign.
Doubling Cube
This doubling cube is slightly larger than a regular die and is marked with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. It keeps track of the increase in stakes in the game. The doubling cube is placed in the middle with 64 facing up (valued at 1). After you offer a double, the doubling cube is turned to its next higher value and passed to your opponent. If he accepts your double, the doubling cube is placed on his side of the board and he becomes the owner of the cube. If he refuses to double, he loses the game and pays the last proposed stake.
Doubles
When the two dice both show the same number.
Back to top
E
Entering
You succeed in entering your opponent's home board from the bar.
Equity
The probability of winning a game.
Back to top
F
Fly shot
A checker that can be hit by a roll of 7 or more. Also called an indirect shot.
FIBS
First introduced by Swede Andreas Schneider in 1993, First Internet Backgammon Server (FIBS) is an electronic forum for playing international backgammon games on the Internet.
FIBS Rating
888 Backgammon ranks players according to the FIBS rating system, which assigns a 1,500 ranking to any new player who logs in for the first time. Winning a single or series of games will increase a player’s ranking points while losing will reduce them. Player ranking allows members to evaluate themselves against others.
Back to top
G
Gammon
This is a completed game where the winner bears off all his checkers and the losing player does not bear off any checkers. The winner gets twice the value of the doubling cube. This is why gammon is also called a double game.
Back to top
H
Hit
Knocking your opponent’s blot off the board and on to the bar.
Hit and cover
You hit an opposing blot and then continue on with the same checker to cover your own blot.
Home board
This section of the board, covering numbers 1-6, is the place from which you remove or bear off your checkers from the game. It is also the quadrant that your opponent must enter from the bar.
Holding game
When you play a game using a defensive strategy.
Hit loose
You hit an opponent's checker but cannot make the point and have to leave a blot
Back to top
I
Indirect shot
See fly shot.
Inner board
See home board.
Back to top
J
Jacoby Rule
This rule, named after its originator Oswald Jacoby, states that in single games, if neither player has offered a double, gammons and backgammons will only count as one point. This rule acts to speed up play because it eliminates a situation where a player avoids doubling so he can play on for a gammon.
Back to top
M
Make a point
You make a point by placing two checkers on it. A made point is a secure point.
Mid-point
This is the 13-point on the board (the opponent's 12-point), where you place five checkers at the beginning of the game.
Back to top
N
Non-contact game
This is a final stage of the game, where all your checkers have passed all of your opponent's checkers and no further hits are possible. See also racing position.
Back to top
O
One-point
The deepest point (1) in a player's home board and the closest to being borne off. Also called the ace point.
Outer board
The other side of the home board; it is the quadrant of the board where the checkers move before they reach the home board.
Back to top
P
Prime
This means six consecutive made points that block the opponent’s progress. An opposing checker trapped behind a prime cannot escape until the prime is broken.
Pip
This means both the number shown on the dice and the number of spaces that the checker moves on the board. The term is also used as a unit of distance, for example ‘the 13 point and the 7 point are six pips apart’.
Pip count
This is the total points (or pips) that a player is required to move his checkers to the home board and bear off. At the start of a game, each player has a pip count of 167.
Point
This is both the name of each of the 24 triangles on the board as well as the score for winning one point for a game.
Back to top
Q
Quadrant
The playing area on the backgammon board is divided into quarters or quadrants.
Back to top
R
Racing position
After each players’ checkers have passed one other and no further hits are possible, there is a race to see who will reach home and bear off his checkers first. See also Non-contact game.
Rake
The fee charged by the hosting company, taken as a percentage from the winner's amount.
Resign
To leave the game (and lose your stake) when your opponent doubles. It is also called drop.
Return shot
When you are hit and go onto the bar, but then manage to re-enter the board while hitting one of your opponent’s checkers.
Back to top
S
Settlement
See Equity.
Shot
The opportunity to hit an opposing blot.
Slot
You move a single checker to an unoccupied point, with the intention of covering it on your next turn.
Spare
This is every checker that is in excess of the first two checkers on a point.
Split
To separate two checkers which are together (usually on your opponent's 1 point) and leave them as blots.
Starting position
The way you arrange the checkers at the start of a game.
Split
To separate two checkers that were on one point and leave them as blots.
Back to top
T
Timing
This means being behind in the race and reviewing whether your position is likely to improve or disintegrate over time.
To own the cube
The term for the last player who accepts the offer of doubling the stakes.
To take
Means accepting an offer to double the stakes and getting possession of the doubling cube. You ‘own the cube’.
To pass
If you turn down the offer to double the stakes, you pass and lose the game.
.gif){kind=small}