“C” Backgammon Terms

Own the cube.

The value approached by a rollout as more and more trials are performed. It is the result you would obtain if you could do a rollout an infinite number of times.

Games played by e-mail.

Pip count.

The relative standing of the players' pip counts. The player with the lower pip count is said to be ahead in the count.

Checker.

The direction your checkers move around the board when they are set up to bear off to the right. When your checkers move counterclockwise, your opponent's checkers move clockwise.

Possibilities for retaliation, switching from a defensive posture to an offensive posture.

To tabulate the players' pip counts to find out who is ahead in the race and by how much.

A win from the seemingly unwinnable position in which your opponent has borne off twelve checkers and has just three checkers remaining on his two-point. You bravely maintain contact with a single checker on his one-point and deploy your other fourteen checkers where they can contain his checkers if you are able to hit one or, preferably, two of them. Winning a coup classique is especially satisfying for you and maddening for your opponent.

To add a second checker to a blot, thereby making the point.

Cubeless probability of winning.

Having little or no mobility.

The first game in a match after either player comes to within one point (4) of winning. The rules of match play say that the doubling cube may not be used during the Crawford game.  See: Crawford Rule.

[Named for John R. Crawford.]  A standard rule of match play. When the leading player comes within one point (4) of winning the match, the following game is played without a doubling cube. This one game without doubling is called the Crawford Game. After the Crawford game, the doubling cube is back in play again. See posts by: Chuck Bower, Kit Woolsey, and Walter Trice.

In a chouette, members of the team who play with the captain against the box.

The movement of a checker from one quadrant of the board to an adjacent quadrant.

The total number of crossovers needed to get all your checkers home and then borne off.

The forced evacuation of desirable points (2) due to the lack of alternate plays; in particular, a position in which you are forced to bury checkers deep within your home board.

A position which has collapsed, with several checkers being forced to the low points (1) in the player's home board while other checkers remain in the opponent's territory.

A priming game in which one side is about to collapse, but has not done so yet.