Backgammon Dictionary

Pick and pass.

To play a checker deep within your home board where it has no value.

A backgame attempt that fell apart when the backgame player was forced to move checkers deep into his home board where they could no longer contain a hit checker.

To safety a blot by bringing it together with another checker.

[As in "go by".]  The position of a player in a tournament who advances to the next round without playing a match. Byes are often randomly awarded in the first round of an elimination tournament to make the number of players in the second round an exact power of 2.

Acronym of "bring your own board," sometimes used in announcement of live tournaments.

A lottery of entrants in a backgammon tournament. At the start of the tournament, players are auctioned off and the proceeds go into a pool to be distributed later to the buyers of the successful players. Sometimes players are grouped into fields, with each field sold as a package. The rules usually allow a player to buy back a portion of himself if he wants to increase his stake in the tournament. See posts by Toni Wuersch and Chuck Bower.

An optional rule that says the winner of the opening roll has the option of rerolling both dice if he also turns the cube to 2. (The cube remains in the center.) See post by Peter Anderson.

A position in which a player's checkers are piled high on a few points (1).

In a chouette, the leader of the team playing against the box. He rolls the dice and makes the final decisions for the team.

To offer a double which you believe will be refused so you can collect the current value of the cube; claim a game.

To throw a pair of dice.

An early plastic, similar to bakelite, that was popular in the 1930's and 40's in the creation of backgammon playing pieces.

Checkers which have been purposely spread out to maximize the chance of hitting an opposing checker if it tries to escape.

The position of the doubling cube before either player has offered a double. A centered doubling cube is placed halfway between the players at the start of each game with the number 64 facing up (representing a value of 1).

Open division.

Play dangerously, especially in offering or accepting doubles, in an attempt to recover losses.

One of the fifteen markers, all of one color, that a player moves around the board according to rolls of the dice. Also known as men, pieces, stones, or counters.

The movement of the checkers according to numbers on the dice.

The art or skill of moving the checkers.   Compare: Cube Play (2).

British spelling of checker.