Glossary

The language of backgammon, in plain English.

Anchor: A point in your opponent's home board held by two or more of your checkers. It gives your back checkers a safe landing spot and a base to hit from.
Back checkers: The two checkers that start on your 24-point, deepest in your opponent's home board.
Back game: A strategy for when you're far behind: hold two or more points in your opponent's home board and wait for a late chance to hit.
Backgammon: The biggest win: the loser has borne off no checkers and still has one on the bar or in the winner's home board. It is worth three times the stake. Also the name of the game.
Bar: The raised strip down the middle of the board. A checker that is hit goes to the bar and must re-enter before its owner can move anything else.
Bar point: Your 7-point, just outside your home board next to the bar. Making it is a big step towards building a prime.
Bear off: Remove checkers from the board once all fifteen are in your home board. The first player to bear off every checker wins.
Blitz: An all-out attack: hitting again and again while making home-board points, aiming to close out the opponent's checkers on the bar.
Blot: A single checker alone on a point. A blot can be hit.
Builder: A checker placed in or near your home board, ready to help make a new point on a later turn.
Closed board: All six of your home-board points made. A hit checker cannot enter until you open a point; locking one out like this is a closeout.
Contact: A position where the two sides' checkers can still hit or block each other. Once contact is broken, the game is a race.
Crawford rule: In match play, the doubling cube is out of play for one game: the game right after a player first comes within one point of winning the match. Match play →
Dance: Fail to enter a checker from the bar because the points your dice allow are all blocked. You lose the rest of the turn.
Double: Offer the doubling cube to your opponent before rolling, proposing to play on at twice the stake. They must take or pass. Doubling cube strategy →
Doubles: A roll where both dice show the same number. Doubles are played four times: 3-3 gives four moves of 3.
Doubling cube: A die marked 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 that tracks the stake of the current game. Only the player who owns it (or either player, while it sits in the middle) may double. Match play →
Gammon: A win where the loser hasn't borne off any checkers. It is worth twice the stake.
Golden point: Your 5-point, the most valuable point to make early in the game.
Hit: Land on your opponent's blot, sending that checker to the bar.
Home board: Your 1- to 6-points, where you gather your checkers and bear them off. Also called the inner board.
Jacoby rule: A money-game rule: gammons and backgammons count only as single wins unless the cube has been turned. It doesn't apply in match play.
Match: A series of games played to a target score, such as the first player to reach 5 points. Match play →
Midpoint: Your 13-point, where five of your checkers start the game.
Money game: A game played for a stake rather than as part of a match. Each game stands on its own.
Opening roll: How a game starts: each player rolls one die, and the higher number goes first, playing both dice. Ties roll again. Opening moves →
Outer board: Your 7- to 12-points, between your home board and the midpoint.
Pass: Decline a double, conceding the game at its current stake rather than playing on for twice as much. Also called a drop.
Pip: One step of movement: a roll of 5 moves a checker five pips.
Pip count: The total number of pips a player must move to bear off every checker. Each side starts at 167. Counting pips →
Point: One of the 24 triangles on the board. To make a point is to put two or more of your checkers on it, which blocks your opponent from landing there.
Post-Crawford: The games after the Crawford game in a match. The cube is back in play, and the player who is behind usually doubles at the first chance. Match play →
Prime: Several made points in a row that block your opponent. Six in a row is a full prime, which cannot be jumped.
Race: A position with no contact left, where the game comes down to who brings their checkers home and bears off first.
Re-enter: Bring a checker from the bar back into your opponent's home board, on a point matching one of your dice.
Redouble: Double again after you have taken a double. Only the player who owns the cube can redouble.
Shot: A chance to hit a blot, often counted as how many of the 36 possible rolls would hit.
Slot: Deliberately place a single checker on a point you want to make next turn, accepting the risk of being hit.
Split: Move your two back checkers apart, usually off the 24-point, to create more chances to anchor or hit.
Take: Accept a double: play on at twice the stake. You then own the cube and are the only one who can double next.