Glossary
The current entries are the inherited Backgammon Simplified glossary, preserved as reference material. Technology course vocabulary will be added in a later phase.
Glossary category
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#3 terms
10 in the Zone
Also called: 10 Checkers in the Zone, Ten in the Zone
Ten in the Zone means having ten checkers in your home board and outer board, giving you strong attacking or blitzing potential.
The zone is your side of the board, consisting of your home board and outer board. At the start of the game, you have eight checkers in the attacking zone. Bringing two active builders down from the mid-point increases that number to ten.
With ten checkers in the zone, you have strong blitzing potential. Nine checkers is borderline, while eight or fewer generally makes a blitz less effective.
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25 Percent Rule
Also called: 25% Rule
The 25 Percent Rule says that, if you ignore future recubes, you need about a 25 percent chance to take a double.
The 25 Percent Rule is a simplified baseline for cube decisions. In a holding game or other positions, if future cube actions are ignored, you need roughly a 25 percent winning chance to take a double. If the cube remains live and you may be able to recube later, you might correctly take with less than 25 percent.
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8-9-12 Doubling Rule
Also called: 8-9-12 Rule
The 8-9-12 Doubling Rule is a guideline for doubling decisions in a pure race based on pip-count percentages.
In a pure race, the 8-9-12 Doubling Rule helps guide cube decisions. The percentage is calculated by dividing the difference between the two pip counts by the leader's pip count. The leader considers doubling at about 8 percent, the middle of the doubling window is around 9 percent, and the trailer can usually take when behind by up to about 12 percent.
For example, if the leader has a pip count of 60 and the trailer has 66, the difference is 6 pips. Six divided by 60 is 10 percent, placing the position within the doubling window.
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A26 terms
ABT
Also called: American Backgammon Tour
ABT stands for the American Backgammon Tour, a series of major backgammon tournaments in the United States.
The American Backgammon Tour is a series of backgammon tournaments held across the United States. Players compete in multiple events and earn points toward the overall ABT standings.
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Ace
Ace means one.
In backgammon, ace means one. It can describe rolling a one or refer to the one-point, which is also called the ace-point.
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Ace-Point Game
An ace-point game is a holding game in which you hold an anchor on your opponent's one-point.
An ace-point game is a holding game in which you hold an anchor on your opponent's one-point. While your opponent bears in, you have about a 50 percent chance of getting a shot.
It is stronger than a two-point or three-point holding game because those anchors give you fewer opportunities to get a shot. The ace-point anchor therefore offers more hitting chances while the opponent brings their checkers home.
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Acting Captain
An acting captain is a chouette player who temporarily takes over the checker play when the original captain's game against the box ends but another cube remains active.
In a chouette, every team member controls their own cube. The captain makes the checker plays against the box.
For example, the captain may offer a double that the box passes. If the box still holds another player's cube, that player becomes the acting captain and continues the game against the box. The acting captain takes over the checker decisions for the remaining active game.
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Action Play
An action play is a bold move made to complicate a position and create chances to turn the game around.
An action play is a bold move made when you want to complicate the position, often when you are behind. It increases contact or volatility to create chances to turn the game around.
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Action Position
An action position is a volatile backgammon position with multiple possible exchanges or hitting opportunities.
An action position is a volatile position with multiple hitting or exchange possibilities. These positions can lead to large swings in equity and require careful evaluation, especially because they may create strong doubling opportunities.
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Active Builder
An active builder is a blot or spare checker in your outer board that can help make a point in your home board.
An active builder is a blot or spare checker in your outer board that can help you make a new point in your home board on a future roll. It is positioned to help you build a stronger board.
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Adjusted Pip Count
An adjusted pip count modifies a pip count to account for checker distribution and bear-off efficiency.
An adjusted pip count is a pip count modified to account for checker distribution and bear-off efficiency. Large gaps and tall stacks usually raise the adjusted pip count because they make a position less efficient. Adjusted pip counts are commonly used to judge who is really ahead in a race, especially when making cube decisions. Methods include Keith Count, Trice Count, and the iSight method.
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Advanced Anchor
An advanced anchor is an anchor on your opponent's four-point or five-point.
An advanced anchor is an anchor on your opponent's four-point or five-point. It gives you outfield control and helps your back checkers escape. It is particularly useful in holding games, and you generally try not to break it until late in the middlegame or endgame.
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Advanced Level
Advanced Level is a tournament or teaching division for strong, experienced players below the top open level.
Advanced Level describes a tournament or teaching division for strong, experienced players below the top open or championship level.
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Ahead in the Count
Also called: Ahead in the Race
Ahead in the Count means having a lower pip count than your opponent and therefore being ahead in the race.
Ahead in the Count means you have a lower pip count than your opponent, meaning you have fewer pips remaining to bring your checkers home and bear them off.
A common principle is, "When you are ahead in the race, race." Avoid unnecessary risk and contact, and focus on bringing your checkers home safely.
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Ammunition
Ammunition describes checkers positioned where they can attack blots or build points.
Ammunition describes checkers positioned where they can attack opposing blots or help make useful points. Ammunition is especially valuable in the attack zone, where it can support a blitz, strengthen the home board, or help close out an opponent.
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Analog Clock
An analog clock is a backgammon timing device with physical dials rather than digital displays.
An analog clock is a physical timing device with traditional dials and hands rather than digital displays. It tracks each player's remaining time during a backgammon match and helps ensure that the match is completed within the established time limits.
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Anchor Game
An anchor game is a strategic game plan in which you hold one or more anchors in your opponent's home board, often while waiting for a shot that could turn the game around.
An anchor game is a strategic approach in which you retain one or more anchors, or made points, in your opponent's home board. These anchors give your checkers safety and allow you to wait for an opportunity to hit an exposed opposing checker. Anchor games are strongest when you also have a strong home board, making any successful hit more dangerous for your opponent.
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Annotated Match
An annotated match is a recorded backgammon match whose rolls and plays have been entered into analysis software so the players' decisions can be reviewed.
An annotated match is usually video recorded, with each dice roll and checker play entered into an analysis engine such as eXtreme Gammon during or after the match. The engine analyzes the decisions, identifies mistakes, and calculates measures such as Performance Rating, or PR.
An annotated match may also include written or spoken commentary. BMAB uses analyzed match results when assessing player classifications. In formats such as UBC, players can also earn a point by recording a lower PR than their opponent.
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Annotation
Annotation is the process of adding analysis to a backgammon match record.
Annotation is the process of entering each dice roll and checker play from a backgammon match into an analysis engine such as eXtreme Gammon. This is usually done from a video recording, either during the match or afterward.
The engine analyzes the players' decisions move by move and calculates measures such as PR. The resulting analysis can be used to study mistakes, assess playing strength, support BMAB classifications, or determine performance-based results in formats such as UBC.
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Anti-Joker
An anti-joker is an extremely unlucky roll that usually leaves your position worse after the roll than it was before.
An anti-joker is an exceptionally unlucky roll, or sequence of rolls, that significantly worsens your position. Your position does not need to have been good beforehand; an anti-joker can make an already difficult position even worse. Because the result can feel especially harsh or unexpected, an anti-joker may contribute to tilt.
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Army
Your army is your full group of checkers, viewed as a coordinated unit that should work together.
In backgammon, your army refers to all of your checkers. The term emphasizes that your checkers should work together as a coordinated unit rather than acting as isolated pieces.
A strong army has good formation, connected checkers, and continuity across the board. This allows the checkers to support one another, create useful points, and carry out a common game plan.
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Around the Corner
Around the Corner means moving a checker from your opponent's outer board into your own outer board.
Around the Corner describes the transition in which a checker moves from your opponent's outer board, past the mid-point, and into your own outer board. This brings the checker onto your side of the board and closer to your home board.
The move often marks progress from the early game toward bringing your checkers home and eventually bearing them in.
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Asset
An asset is a useful positional feature that works in your favour and improves your winning chances.
In backgammon, an asset is any useful feature of your position that increases your winning chances. Assets can include a made point, a strong anchor, a strong prime, a strong home board, or an advantageous checker distribution.
You consider your assets when making checker-play and cube decisions, including whether your position is strong enough to double or whether you have enough positional resources to take an opponent's cube.
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Attack
An attack is an aggressive play intended to hit or threaten opposing blots and improve your position.
An attack is a deliberate play aimed at hitting one or more of your opponent's blots, often to gain a positional or timing advantage. Blitzing and trying to close out your opponent are common forms of attack.
Attacking can also help your back checkers escape. When you have several checkers trapped behind your opponent, hitting can put an opposing checker on the bar instead of leaving your own checkers vulnerable to being put on the bar.
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Attack Zone
Also called: The Zone, Your Side of the Board, Zone, Zone of Attack
The attack zone is your side of the board, consisting of your home board and outer board.
The attack zone is your side of the board: your home board and outer board. It is the area where you can use your ammunition to attack opposing checkers, launch a blitz, make home-board points, or try to close out your opponent.
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Attacking Game
An attacking game is a game plan based on hitting, closing points, and keeping opposing checkers on the bar.
An attacking game is a game plan based on hitting, closing points, and keeping opposing checkers on the bar. The most famous type of attacking game is a blitz, where in the early to middle game you repeatedly attack your opponent, put their checkers on the bar, and try to close them out.
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Automatic Doubles
Also called: Automatic, Automatic Double, Automatics
Automatic Doubles is an optional money-game rule where matching opening rolls automatically double the game's value.
Automatic Doubles is an optional rule used in money play. If both players roll the same number while determining who moves first, the game's value automatically doubles. The doubling cube is turned to 2 but remains centered, so neither player owns it and either player may offer the next double. Players normally agree before playing whether to use this rule and may limit the number of automatic doubles allowed in one game.
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Awkward Number
An awkward number is a roll that leaves no clearly good checker play, forcing you to choose among several suboptimal options.
An awkward number is a roll that creates a difficult checker-play decision because none of the available moves fits the position well. The challenge is not choosing between two strong plays, but identifying the least damaging option among several suboptimal ones.
An awkward number is related to an anti-joker, but the emphasis is different. An anti-joker describes an exceptionally bad roll that worsens your position, while an awkward number describes the difficulty of the decision because there is no obvious checker play.
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Awkward Position
An awkward position is a position in which many rolls leave no clearly constructive checker play.
An awkward position has poor flexibility, distribution, connectivity, or checker coordination, causing many rolls to produce difficult choices among suboptimal plays. The player often has no obvious constructive move and must choose the option that does the least damage.
An awkward position is different from an awkward number. The position is the underlying board structure that makes many rolls difficult, while an awkward number is one particular roll that creates a difficult decision.
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B2 terms
Back Game
Also called: Backgame
A back game is a strategy based on holding two or more points deep in your opponent's home board while waiting for a late opportunity to hit.
A back game is a highly technical and volatile game plan in which you hold two or more points deep in your opponent's home board. Good timing is essential. If you are forced to break your board or kill checkers, the back game loses much of its effectiveness. It is common to be 70 to 100 pips behind in the race and still have meaningful winning chances.
Back-game play can be counterintuitive. Sometimes you avoid hitting because the hit would give your opponent additional timing, while being hit may help recycle one of your checkers and maintain your own timing. Back games can involve substantial cube action and high cube values. They occur relatively infrequently, generally in fewer than 10 percent of games, so beginners should study more common game plans first. Understanding back games becomes increasingly important when progressing from expert play toward master level and beyond.
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BMAB
Also called: Backgammon Masters Awarding Body
BMAB stands for the Backgammon Masters Awarding Body, an organization that awards backgammon titles based on verified performance ratings.
The Backgammon Masters Awarding Body, commonly called BMAB, awards mastership titles and proficiency certificates using Performance Rating from verified, analyzed matches. Players must complete the required amount of qualifying play and meet the applicable PR standard.
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F1 terms
Fischer Increment
Also called: Bonus Time, Fischer Time, Increment
Fischer Increment adds a fixed amount of time to a player's bank for each turn, allowing unused time to accumulate.
Fischer Increment credits a fixed amount of time for each turn. Depending on the clock or software, the increment may be credited at the start of the turn or after the completed turn. Unlike Simple Delay, the full increment is cumulative. If a player uses less time than the increment, their time bank grows.
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P1 terms
Performance Rating
Also called: ER, Error Rate, Performance Rate, PR
Performance Rating, or PR, measures how closely your checker plays and cube decisions match the moves chosen to be "correct" by an analysis bot.
Performance Rating, usually shortened to PR and sometimes called Error Rate or ER, is a number used to judge how well you played an analyzed match. A PR of 0 means the bot found no mistakes in your checker plays or cube decisions. As a rough guide, newer players may play around 20 to 40 PR, intermediate players around 10 to 20, and advanced players below 10. Different bots can produce different ratings, so results from different programs should not be compared directly.
When describing your PR across several matches, combine the value lost across all counted decisions and divide by the total number of those decisions. Do not take a simple average of the separate match PRs, because matches can contain very different numbers of decisions. Lower-PR, more skilled players win more often over large samples, although the PR from one match can be affected by Winner's Curse.
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R1 terms
Reserve Time
Also called: Bank Time, Clock Reserve Time, Time Bank
Reserve time is the bank of clock time a player can use across a match after any per-move delay has expired.
Reserve time is the main bank of time available to a player across an entire match or playing session. With Simple Delay, the delay is used first on each turn, and reserve time begins to count down only after the delay expires.
Under Fischer Increment, a fixed amount of time is credited to this bank for each turn, so the bank can increase when moves are played quickly.
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S1 terms
Simple Delay
Also called: Delay Time, Time Delay, US Delay
Simple Delay gives a player a fixed amount of use-it-or-lose-it time at the start of every turn before reserve time begins to count down.
Simple Delay provides a fixed amount of time at the start of each turn. The delay counts down before the player's reserve time begins to decrease. If the turn is completed within the delay, no reserve time is used. Any unused delay disappears and does not carry forward.
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U1 terms
UBC
Also called: Ultimate Backgammon Championship
UBC stands for the Ultimate Backgammon Championship, a competition in which match results and Performance Rating both contribute to the standings.
The Ultimate Backgammon Championship, commonly called UBC, rewards both winning matches and playing with a lower Performance Rating. A match can award one point for the match win and a separate point for the PR win, allowing a player to earn zero, one, or two points.
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W1 terms
Winner's Curse
Winner's Curse is the tendency for favourable rolls that help a player win to also create more difficult decisions, making the winner's match PR look worse than usual.
Winners often roll more doubles and other strong rolls, hit more checkers, and put their opponent on the bar more often. These favourable rolls improve their chances of winning, but they can also create more decisions and several good-looking moves, making it harder to choose the very best play. A winning position can also make it easier to miss a double or send the cube too late.
Winner's Curse does not mean winners are usually less skilled or play with a higher PR. Lower-PR, more skilled players still win more often, especially over longer matches or sessions. It means that the same favourable rolls that help produce a win can also make that winning path unusually difficult to play accurately.
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