Glossary of
BACKGAMMON
| Back game | A defensive strategy used by a player when his position is such that he sees no chance to win a running game (qv.). In a back game the player usually grants a long lead to his opponent with the expectation of regaining it and more later. Also called a backward game. |
| Back man or men | Either of the two men (qv.) in your opponent's inner table, set initially on your opposite 1-point, and having furthest to travel. |
| Backgammon | Describes a win where you have borne off your last man and your opponent still has one or more men in your inner table or on the bar. In such a win the stake, if any, is tripled. See Law 19. |
| Backward game | See Back game. |
| Bar | The strip (usually raised) in the middle of the board which separates the inner and outer tables. Sometimes called the rail. |
| Bar point | Each player's 7-point. A position of strategic importance, being just outside a player's inner table. |
| Bearing off | Removing your men from the board after having moved all of your men still in play into your inner table. See Law 19. |
| Blocking game | A defensive game where you try to impede your opponent's progress by placing blocks (of several made points) in his way. |
| Blot | A single man on a point, exposed to an opponent's hit. |
| Builder | A blot which is in a good position to help make either a point or a third man on a point. |
| Cocked dice | Dice which have been thrown and come to rest at an angle rather than lieing flat upon the board or table. |
| Come in or on | To bring a man in from the bar onto your opponent's inner table. Also referred to as entering or re-entering. |
| Contact | Any position where all of one's men have not yet passed all of an opponent's men and can therefore still (theoretically) hit an opponent's blot. |
| Cube | See Doubling cube. |
| Dice, Die | Plural and singular for the standard cubes (each marked with 1-6 dots or pips) used in casting or throwing. |
| Double game | A gammon (qv). |
| (1)Double or Doublet | Describes two matching numbers on a thrown pair of dice. When a double is thrown each number must be used twice, such that four plays of the same number must be made instead of two. |
| (2)Double or Redouble | The doubling of any stake in the game. Backgammon is played for an
agreed stake (qv.) per point. Each game starts at a level of one point
but during the game a player who feels he has an advantage may propose
doubling the stakes. He may do this only at the start of his own turn and
before he has rolled the dice.
A player who is offered a double must either refuse (in which case he concedes the game and pays one point) or accept the double and play on for the new higher stakes. In accepting he becomes the owner of the cube and only he may make the next double. Subsequent doubles in the same game are called redoubles. If a player refuses a redouble, he must pay the number of points that were at stake prior to the redouble. Otherwise, he becomes the new owner of the cube and the game continues at twice the previous stakes. |
| Doubling cube | An oversized cube (with faces marked 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64) used to record the current multiple of the stake for which the players are playing. When a double is offered and accepted the cube is turned to the next higher number. It may be placed on the bar or outside the players' inner tables. Often referred to as simply "the cube". |
| Enter | See Come in or on. |
| Forward game | A racing strategy where a player avoids hitting opposing blots and instead tries to lose as little time as possible in bringing his men to safety. |
| Gammon | Describes a win where you have borne off your last man and your opponent has failed to bear off a single man. In such a win the stake, if any, is doubled. See Law 19. |
| Hit | Moving a man to a point occupied by only one of an opponent's men. The player is then said to have hit the opponent's blot, which the player picks up and places on the bar. |
| Inner table(s) | The quarter(s) of the board comprising points 1-6. A player may only enter on his opponent's inner table, and bear off from his own inner table, and nowhere else. Also called the inner board(s), home table(s) or home board(s). |
| Lover's leap | The name of a particular move, when a player has thrown 6-5 and moves one of his back men from his opponent's 1-point to his opponent's 12-point. |
| Making a point | Describes a player occupying a point with 2 or more men. When a player has made a point, his opponent's men cannot touch down or come to rest on that point. |
| Man or men | Any of the 30 counters or checkers (15 of each of 2 colours, usually white and black) moved around the board during the course of the game. Sometimes called Stones. |
| Open point | Any point unoccupied (or only occupied singly). Often used to describe an available entry point in a player's inner table, in relation to men on the bar. |
| Outer table(s) | The quarter(s) of the board comprising points 7-12. Also called the outer board(s). |
| Owner of the cube | A player who accepts a double (qv.2) and plays on for the new higher stakes. Only the current owner of the cube may make the next double. |
| Point | Any one of the 24 narrow triangles on the board. Each is referred to by player and number (12 to each side), eg. White's 2-point. |
| Prime | A block of any six consecutive made points anywhere on the board. Your opponent cannot move a man past your prime. |
| Rail | See Bar. |
| Redouble | See (2)Double. |
| Running game | Describes the position at which all of each player's men have passed (or are nearly certain to pass) the opponent's men. |
| Stake | The agreed amount of winnings per point for which players compete. Each game starts at a level of one point (ie. the basic stake) prior to any doubling or redoubling (qv.) that may occur. |
| Stone(s) | See Man or men. |
| Triple game | A backgammon (qv). |