Bkgmn.com

Learning a new game also means acquiring a new language by which you communicate with your fellow players. We've compiled the following glossary of backgammon terms for you to feel more comfortable when sitting down for a match.

• Checkers/ Men: The game pieces (30 in total) that are split between the two players and are placed on the board at the beginning of play.
• Bear off: The act that wins the game for a player. Removing all of one's checkers from the board.
• Gamen: The old-English term meaning "game".
• Tabula: An ancient form of backgammon, almost identical to today's, played by the ancient Romans. It means 'table' or 'board'.
• Match/ Game: One round of play between two players. Most often a few matches are played to determine the winner of the game.
• Points: The triangular spaces on the backgammon board on which the checkers are placed at the beginning of play. Points are numbered 1-24 for each player in opposite directions on the game's layout.
• Blot: A lone checker laying unaccompanied by its own friendly checkers or by enemy checkers. Being a blot exposes a checker to be "hit".
• Hit: Once an enemy checker lands on the point of a blot, it sends the blot to the board's bar to wait to be released. This is extremely disadvantageous for the player whose checker was hit.
• Doubles: An incident in which a player rolls the dice and the same number appears on each one.
• Bearing off: A player is permitted to begin taking his checkers off the board once they are all in his home board. The act is called 'bearing off'.
• Gammon: When two players are playing a set of matches, losing a gammon counts as two lost matches. This occurs when the opposing player has borne off all fifteen of his checkers with the losing player not bearing off even one.
• Backgammon: A player losing to his opponent by not only not bearing off a single checker, but also having checkers on the bar and/or in his opponent's home board. A backgammon counts for three lost matches. Note: certain versions credit a backgammon with a checker on the bar with four losses (a quadruple loss).
• Doubling cube: A six-sided die with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 appearing on it.
• Anchor: Having at least two men on one point. By retaining this state, a player is preventing the opponent from landing on that number with his checkers.

A bit about the board's geography:

• Home board/Inner board: The area on the board where each player strives to get his men in order to win the match. These points are numbered one through six.
• Outer board: Points numbered seven through 12.
• Bar point: The seven point on the board.
• Mid point: The 13 point on the board.
• Bar: The "outfield" of the board. Te elevated space separating the two sides of the board where a checker is sent to once it is hit.