Backgammon has a vocabulary all its own, and knowing it makes every book, video, and analysis screen easier to follow. Here is an alphabetical glossary of the terms you will actually meet at the board, each defined in plain English.
Ace point. Your 1-point, the last point before checkers bear off. An anchor here is the deepest (and weakest) anchor available.
Anchor. A point you own (two or more checkers) inside your opponent's home board. Anchors give your back checkers a safe base and keep your game alive when you are behind.
Back checkers. The checkers that start on your 24-point, deep in enemy territory. Escaping or anchoring them is one of the opening's main jobs.
Back game. A defensive strategy built on holding two (or more) anchors deep in the opponent's home board, then waiting to hit a shot late in the game. See the full back game guide.
Backgammon (the win). A triple-value win: the loser has borne off no checkers and still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board.
Bar. The raised ridge dividing the board. Hit checkers go to the bar and must re-enter in the opponent's home board before anything else can move.
Bear in. Bringing your checkers into your home board, the required step before bearing off.
Bear off. Removing checkers from the board once all fifteen are in your home board. The first player to bear off all fifteen wins.
Beaver. An optional rule in casual play: when doubled, a player may instantly redouble to four while keeping the cube on their side.
Blitz. An all-out attack that hits enemy blots and makes home-board points as fast as possible, aiming to close the opponent out while they flounder on the bar.
Blot. A lone checker on a point. It can be hit by an opposing checker and sent to the bar.
Blunder. A serious error. Analysis software grades mistakes by how much equity they cost, and blunders are the expensive ones.
Builder. A spare checker positioned to help make a valuable point on a future roll.
Checker. One of the fifteen playing pieces per side. Also called men, stones, or counters.
Closed board. A home board where all six points are made. An opponent on the bar against a closed board cannot re-enter at all and simply forfeits rolls until a point opens.
Contact. Any position where the two sides can still hit each other. When the armies have fully passed, contact is broken and the game is a pure race.
Crawford rule. In match play, when one player first reaches a score one point from victory, the doubling cube is dead for exactly one game. Standard in tournaments and in match play everywhere.
Cube. Short for the doubling cube, the six-sided marker (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64) that multiplies the value of the game. Our doubling cube guide covers how and when to use it.
Dance. To roll numbers that all fail to re-enter from the bar. Painful, and a core part of why blitzes work.
Double. To offer the cube, proposing to play on for twice the current value. The opponent either takes (accepts) or passes (concedes the current value).
Doubles (doublets). Rolling the same number on both dice. You play that number four times, not twice.
Duplication. A defensive idea: arranging your checkers so the same enemy number is needed for two different good things, cutting down the rolls that hurt you.
Equity. The expected value of a position. Analysis tools express your mistakes as lost equity.
Gammon. A double-value win: the loser has borne off no checkers when the winner finishes.
Golden point. Your 5-point, the most valuable point on the board to make early. The matching anchor on your opponent's 5-point is often called the golden anchor.
Hit. To land on an enemy blot, sending it to the bar.
Holding game. A strategy built on keeping one advanced anchor and waiting for a shot as the opponent brings checkers home.
Home board. Your points 1 through 6, where your checkers must gather before bearing off and where hit enemy checkers must re-enter.
Jacoby rule. An optional rule for single games: gammons and backgammons count only if the cube has been turned. It speeds play by discouraging endless cubeless slogs.
Midpoint. Your 13-point, home to five checkers at the start and a key landing spot for back checkers heading home.
On roll. The player whose turn it is to roll the dice.
Outfield. The outer boards, points 7 through 18, the open country between the two home boards.
Pip. One unit of movement, a single point of distance on a die. A roll of 6-3 moves nine pips in total.
Pip count. The total distance all fifteen of your checkers must still travel to bear off. The lower count leads the race. Both players start at 167; here is how to count pips quickly.
Point. One of the 24 triangles on the board. To "make a point" is to occupy it with two or more checkers, blocking enemy landings.
Prime. A wall of consecutive made points. A six-point prime is unpassable for any checker trapped behind it, since no die shows more than six.
Race. A position with no remaining contact, decided purely by pip count and dice. Also used loosely for the running aspect of any game.
Shot. A chance to hit an enemy blot. "Leaving a shot" means exposing a blot to possible hits.
Slot. To place a lone checker on a point you hope to make next turn, accepting the risk of being hit for the chance of a strong point.
Spare. A checker beyond the two needed to own a point, free to move without giving the point up.
Take / Pass. The two answers to a double: take accepts the cube and plays on at twice the value; pass concedes the game at its current value.
Timing. How long your position can hold its shape before you are forced to weaken it. Back games and holding games live or die on timing.
Terms stick fastest when you meet them in real games. Every match on Backgammon Battles comes with free move-by-move computer analysis, and the concepts above, blots, primes, anchors, equity, are exactly the language that analysis speaks. Play a few games, review them, and the glossary becomes second nature. For how the ideas fit together, the strategy guide is the natural next read.
Play free ranked matches with provably fair dice, then review every blot, prime, and cube decision with free computer analysis.
Play backgammon freeA lone checker on a point. An opposing checker can land on it, hit it, and send it to the bar, where it must re-enter in the opponent's home board.
A win where the loser has borne off no checkers. It counts double the cube value. If the loser also has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board, it is a backgammon and counts triple.
A wall of consecutive made points. A six-point prime cannot be passed by any checker trapped behind it, because no die shows higher than six.
See how the concepts fit together →
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