Learning Important Backgammon Terminology

For players who have trouble understanding Backgammon instructions on their Backgammon game download or in a live playing situation, it is important to have a solid grasp of the common terminology used during a Backgammon game to play successfully. Like any game, Backgammon uses a special jargon to define the Backgammon rules, identify pieces of the Backgammon set, and clarify how to play Backgammon.

The following is a continuation of the Backgammon glossary from the letter “D.”

Doubles: Two rolled dice with the same value that permit you to increase your checker movement by twice the rolled amount.

Drop (a Double): To not accept an opponent’s offer of doubling the stakes of the game that results in your automatic loss.

Early Game: The beginning portion of the game.

End Game: The last portion of the game.

Fan: The inability to re-enter hit checkers back into the game.

Forced Move: A move that a player must take in order to play according to the rules, but that is often not beneficial to a Backgammon strategy.

Full Prime: The strongest position possible in the game that occurs when one player has control of six points in a row, thus blocking his opponent from progressing on the Backgammon board.

Gammon: Bearing off all of your checkers before your opponent has the ability to bear off one of his checkers. Winning in this style earns you twice the number of points shown on the cube.

Gap: The point or points between established points.

Golden Point: The opponent’s #5 point so called because it is a prime defensive point to have captured at the beginning of the game.

Heavy Point: A point that has four or more checkers on it.

Hit: A move made when you land your checker on an opponent’s blot, or point with a single checker, thus bumping the opponent’s checker to the bar.

Holding Game: A strategy that involves holding at least one point in your opponent’s inner board in order to prevent his checkers from making a full return to their home board.

Home Board (or Inner Board): The quadrant of the board in which an opponent’s checkers must return before they are borne off.

Loose Play: Leaving many exposed blots during standard play.

Making a Point: A point is made when two checkers land on it and claim it as their own, thus preventing it from being captured.

Middle Game: Coming between the Early Game and the End Game when players have not yet begun the process of bearing off.

Midpoint: Your opponent’s 12 point or your 13 point that is often used as a strategic playing position.

Open Point: A free point that is not being used by either player.

Opening Roll: To begin to play Backgammon, each player rolls one die to see who has the highest number. The player with the highest number starts the game using the two numbers rolled in the opening roll.

Outer Board: The opposite of Inner Board, points 7 through 18.

Article Source:http://www.resourceschool.com

Further articles that were written by Gene Marshall on the matter of internet backgammon can be accessed on the net. Top backgammon writer Gene Marshall works for many top online backgammon magazines. He contributes editorials about backgammon and backgammon tournaments.

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