Important Backgammon Terms for Playing Online

Many people who enjoy playing Backgammon online are often confused when they encounter Backgammon jargon from their opponents or even from Backgammon download software. The use of Backgammon terminology is an important part of the Backgammon game, and understanding the meaning of each word and how to use each piece of lingo will help players further develop their knowledge of how to play Backgammon.

The following is a brief glossary of important Backgammon terms that are commonly used in the game.

Action Play: This is an aggressive Backgammon playing style that is most commonly used against an opponent who has escaped from the back checkers.

Anchor: The two or more checkers located on an opponent’s inner board.

Backgame: When you hold at least two points on your opponent’s inner board, you may be forced to employ this defensive Backgammon strategy.

Back Position: Stemming from the term “backgame,” this is simply a point held in an opponent’s inner board.

Bar: The part of the Backgammon board where hit checkers rest when they are out of the game. On a physical Backgammon set, the bar is the raised partition between the two sides of the board.

Bear In: The process of bringing your checkers into your own inner board.

Bear Off: The last part of the game that involves removing checkers from the board.

Beaver (also Binache): A rule allowing a doubled player to demand that the stakes be quadrupled, ensuring that he maintains possession of the cube.

Black: The term used for the player who has possession of the dark colored checkers.

Block: Arranging your checkers on points in order to prevent your opponent from progressing.

Blot: When one checker rests on a point alone and is vulnerable to being hit by his opponent.

Board: The playing surface used to play Backgammon comprised of four quadrants.

Checkers: Each player of the game receives 15 of these round chips. One opponent will receive black checkers and one will receive white checkers. In total, there are 30 in the game.

Closed Board: This occurs when a player has made all six points of their home board and thus blocks a hit player from returning to the game.

Come In: To return a hit checker back into regular game play (to re-enter the board).

Cover: To protect a checker on a blot by adding another checker to the point, thus ensuring that the checkers cannot be hit.

Crossover: Moving your checker from one quadrant of the board to another.

Cube: A part of the game that has to do with doubling and Backgammon gambling. When a player has been challenged to a double, they must accept this six-number die in order to remain in the game with doubled stakes.

Dice: The two cube-shaped, numbered pieces used by players to move checkers around the board.

Double: The gambling stakes of the game can be increased by a factor of two when a player feels that they have a strong advantage in the game.

By: Gene Marshall

Other works that were written by Gene Marshall about backgammon are obtainable on the internet. Gene Marshall specializes in editorials about online backgammon and the backgammon board . The writer is an internet backgammon professional that works for several renowned backgammon magazines.

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