Glossary
The terms you'll hear at any board, in plain language.
- Point
- One of the 24 triangles on the board; also used loosely to mean a die value, as in 'the 6-point'.
- Blot
- A single, unprotected checker on a point, vulnerable to being hit.
- Bar
- The ridge dividing the two halves of the board; hit checkers wait here before re-entering play.
- Bearing off
- Removing checkers from the board once all 15 are inside your home board, the final stage of the race.
- Doubling cube
- A six-sided die marked 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, used to raise the stakes of a game rather than to move checkers.
- Gammon
- A win worth double the stakes, earned when the loser hasn't borne off a single checker.
- Backgammon (win)
- A win worth triple the stakes, earned when the loser still has a checker in the winner's home board or on the bar.
- Home board
- The six points where a player collects checkers before bearing them off.
- Outer board
- The twelve points outside both players' home boards, where most contact play happens.
- Pip count
- The total number of pips a player's checkers must travel to bear off completely; useful for judging who's ahead in a race.
- Prime
- Six consecutive points held by one player, forming a wall the opponent's checkers cannot cross.
- Anchor
- A point held deep in the opponent's home board, giving a trapped checker a safe place to wait.