“A” Backgammon Terms

Having a lower pip count than your opponent; see count (2).

Having a lower pip count than your opponent.

An unexpectedly poor roll, especially one that fails to hit or fails to make a point.

Checkers in position to carry out an attack, in particular, checkers in the zone.

A traditional chess clock with hands that show the time remaining for each player. It has a flag that falls to indicate when a player's time has expired. Analog clocks generally do not have a time delay feature, making them less suitable than digital clocks for use in backgammon.

A point (1) occupied by two or more of your checkers in the opponent's home board.

A recorded match with added analysis and commentary.  Example: The annotated match between Kit Woolsey and Jeremy Bagai.

Analysis and commentary about a backgammon game written after the game is played.

A very bad roll; the opposite of a joker.

The formation of a player's checkers as they work together to block and attack the opponent, then and come home safely.

A move from the opponent's outer board to the player's outer board.

A feature that contributes to the strength of a position, such as made points and flexibility.  Compare: Liability.

Blitz (1).

See: Zone of attack.

An optional rule in money play: If both players throw the same number on the first roll of a game, the stakes are doubled. The doubling cube is turned to 2 and stays in the middle. Players usually agree to limit the number of automatic doubles to one per game.

Automatic doubles.

A dice roll which forces a player to leave a shot or break a valuable point (2).