Backgammon Glossary: Terms From A to Z

Backgammon has a vocabulary all its own, built over centuries of play. Here is every term you're likely to hear at a board or read in a guide, defined in plain English. Terms that have a whole page of their own link to it.

A – B

Ace point

The 1-point — the last point on a checker's journey. An anchor there (the "ace-point game") is the most desperate of the holding games: you wait for one late shot as your opponent bears off.

Anchor

A made point (two or more checkers) in your opponent's home board. An anchor gives hit checkers a safe re-entry and lets you wait safely for a shot. High anchors (the 20- or 21-point) are far stronger than deep ones.

Automatic double

An optional money-play custom: when the opening roll ties, the stakes double and both players re-roll. Not part of standard or match play.

Back checkers

The two checkers that start on your 24-point, deepest in enemy territory. Escaping, anchoring or attacking with them is the opening's central drama.

Back game

A defensive strategy holding two (or more) anchors in the opponent's home board, hoping to hit a shot late and contain it. Spectacular when it works; a gammon risk when it doesn't.

Backgammon (win)

The triple-value win: the loser has borne off no checkers and still has one on the bar or in the winner's home board. Worth 3 × the cube. See scoring.

Bar

The raised ridge dividing the board's two halves. Hit checkers stand here until they re-enter in the opponent's home board.

Bear off

To remove checkers from the board once all fifteen are in your home board. First to bear off all fifteen wins. Exact rules in the rules reference.

Beaver

An optional money-play rule: a player who is doubled may instantly redouble while keeping cube ownership. See the cube guide.

Blitz

An all-out attack on the opponent's blots in your home board, aiming to close them out before they can anchor. High risk, high gammon reward.

Blot

A single checker alone on a point — hittable by any enemy checker that can reach it.

Builder

A spare checker positioned to help make a valuable point on a coming roll.

C – D

Checker

One of the fifteen playing pieces per side; also called men, stones or counters.

Closed board

A home board with all six points made. Enemy checkers on the bar cannot enter at all and forfeit every turn until a point opens.

Cocked dice

Dice that land tilted, stacked on a checker, or outside the playing half. Both dice are re-rolled.

Crawford rule / Crawford game

In match play: the first game after a player reaches match point is played without the doubling cube. See the cube guide for why.

Cube ownership

After a double is taken, the taker owns the cube and is the only player who may double next.

Dance

To fail to enter from the bar because both rolled numbers point at blocked entry points — the whole turn is lost. Also "flunk" or "stay out".

Dead cube

A cube that can no longer usefully be turned — typically at match scores where doubling gains the doubler nothing.

Double (cube)

An offer to multiply the game's value by two, made before rolling on your turn. The opponent must take or drop. Full rules in the doubling cube guide.

Doubles / doublets (dice)

Both dice showing the same number. The number is played four times, not twice.

Drop

To decline a double, conceding a single game at the cube value before the double. Also "pass".

E – H

Enter

To bring a checker from the bar back into play, on a point in the opponent's home board matching a rolled number.

Equity

The average number of points a position is worth with best play from both sides — the currency in which all backgammon decisions are ultimately measured.

Gammon

The double-value win: the loser has borne off no checkers. Worth 2 × the cube. Known as mars in Turkish tavla. See scoring.

Golden point

Your opponent's 5-point (your 20-point) — the best anchor on the board. Your own 5-point is the board's single most valuable point to make.

Hit

To land on an enemy blot, sending it to the bar to restart its journey.

Hit and cover

To hit a blot and, in the same or next roll, make the point it was hit on — attacking and building simultaneously.

Holding game

A strategy of keeping an anchor on a key point (often the opponent's 5-point or your bar point) and waiting for a shot as the opponent tries to come home.

Home board

Your points 1–6, where checkers finish before bearing off, and where your opponent's hit checkers must re-enter. Also "inner board".

I – P

Jacoby rule

An optional money-play rule: gammons and backgammons count only as singles unless the cube was turned. Never used in match play.

Match play

Playing a series of games to a fixed point target (first to 5, 7, 11…). Contrast with money play, where each game settles separately.

Match point

The state of being one point from winning the match. Reaching it first triggers the Crawford game.

Midpoint

Your 13-point, where five checkers start — a key landing station on the way home.

Money play

Independent games at an agreed stake per point rather than toward a match target; the natural habitat of the Jacoby rule and beavers.

Open point

A point with no checkers, or a single enemy blot — anywhere your checkers may legally land.

Outer board

Points 7–12 (yours) or 13–18 (your opponent's, from your numbering) — the two quadrants between the home boards.

Pip

One point of movement — the unit the dice dispense. A 6-5 roll delivers eleven pips.

Pip count

The total pips a player needs to bear off all fifteen checkers from the current position. Both players start at 167. Comparing pip counts tells you who leads the race — the foundation of racing and cube decisions.

Point

One of the 24 triangles on the board; also, to "make a point" is to occupy it with two or more checkers.

Prime

Several consecutive made points forming a wall. A six-point prime ("full prime") is impassable — checkers trapped behind it cannot move past until it breaks.

R – Z

Race

The pure running phase after all contact is broken — no hits possible, just pip counts and dice. Also describes a game plan built on outrunning the opponent.

Redouble

A subsequent double by the cube's owner, raising 2 to 4, 4 to 8, and so on. Ownership passes to whoever takes it.

Run / running game

Breaking contact and racing for home — the right plan when you lead the pip count.

Shot

A roll that would hit an enemy blot. "Leaving a shot" means exposing a blot to possible hits; counting shots (out of 36 rolls) measures the risk.

Single game

The one-point win: the loser has borne off at least one checker. The result of every dropped double, whatever the position.

Slot

To place a lone checker deliberately on a point you hope to make next turn — accepting a hit risk to build faster.

Take

To accept a double: the game continues at twice the stakes and you own the cube.

Take point

The minimum winning probability that justifies taking a double — roughly 25% before adjusting for gammons and cube ownership. Explained in the cube guide.

Tavla

The Turkish branch of the backgammon family, traditionally played without a doubling cube and with its own rich terminology (mars for gammon). The board, setup and movement are the same game.

Put the Words to Work

Vocabulary sticks when you use it. Play a game or two and narrate to yourself — that's a blot… I'll slot the 5-point… he danced! — and this page will read like old news within a week. Start with the beginner's guide if the basics are still settling, or jump straight into a free browser game.