- Calcutta Auction
- 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.
- California Rule
- 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.
- Candlesticks
- A position in which a player’s checkers are piled high on a few points.
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- Captain
- In a chouette, the leader of the team playing against the box. He rolls the dice and makes the final decisions for the team.
- Cash a Game
- To offer a double which you believe will be refused so you can collect the current value of the cube; claim a game.
- Cast
- To throw a pair of dice.
- Catalin
- An early plastic, similar to bakelite, that was popular in the 1930’s and 40’s in the creation of backgammon playing pieces.
- Catchers
- Checkers which have been purposely spread out to maximize the chance of hitting an opposing checker if it tries to escape.
- Centered Cube
- 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).
- Championship Division
- Open division.
- Chase
- Play dangerously, especially in offering or accepting doubles, in an attempt to recover losses.
- Checker
- 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.
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- Checker Play
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- The movement of the checkers according to numbers on the dice.
- The art or skill of moving the checkers. Compare: Cube Play.
- Chequer
- British spelling of checker.
- Chess Clock
- Two adjacent connected clocks with buttons that stop one clock while starting the other so that the two component clocks never run simultaneously. The purpose is to keep track of the total time each player takes and ensure that neither player unduly delays the game. Clocks may be analog or digital. Digital clocks work best in backgammon because they have a time delay feature.
- Chouette
- [Pronounced "shoo-ETT". From the French word for "barn owl," a bird that is often attacked by all other birds.] A social form of backgammon for three or more players. One player, the box, plays on a single board against all the others who form a team led by a captain. See: How to Run a Chouette.
- Cinque-Point
- Traditional name for the five-point.
- Claim a Game
- To offer a double which you believe will be refused so that you can collect the current value of the cube; cash a game.
- Clean Play
- A move completed legally.
- Clear a Point
- To move all the checkers off of a point.
- Clear from the Rear
- A good general strategy to use when bearing in or bearing off against opposition. You clear your highest point first and avoid creating gaps.
- Client Software
- Software that runs on a user’s computer and communicates with a backgammon server to allow the user to play backgammon with others on the Internet. The client software displays the board and interacts with the user as he rolls the dice and moves the checkers.
- Clock
- Chess clock.
- Clockwise
- The direction your checkers move around the board when they are set up to bear off to the left. When your checkers move clockwise, your opponent’s checkers move counterclockwise.
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- Close a Point
- Make a point; place two or more of your checkers on a point, and thereby prevent your opponent from landing there.
- Closed Board
- A player’s home board when all six points are blocked.
- Closed Point
- A point containing two or more checkers; a block or an anchor.
- Close Out
- To make all six of your home board points while the opponent has one or more checkers on the bar. The opponent is then prevented from entering his checker or making any other move until one of the closed home-board points is opened.
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- Cluster Count
- A collection pip counting techniques used by Jack Kissane and described in this article.
- Cocked Dice
- Thrown dice which do not both land flat on the surface of the half of the board to the player’s right. The roll is disqualified and both dice must be rethrown.
- Cock Shot
- Entering from the bar with a roll of 6-2 and hitting a blot on the eight-point when the only open point is the two-point.
- Coffeehouse
- Misleading talk to confuse opponent. For example, in a chouette, when a team player advises the captain not to double knowing full well that the captain will double, he tempts the box to unwisely accept (ethically borderline, at best). (From Backgammon, by Paul Magriel, p 396.)
- Combination
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- The two numbers on a pair of rolled dice taken together; see combinations of the dice.
- The play of a single checker that uses both numbers of a roll, such as a combination shot.
- Combination Shot
- An opportunity to hit an opposing blot that requires using the numbers on both dice taken together; an indirect shot. Compare: Direct Shot.
- Combinations of the Dice
- The number of possible rolls out of 36 that accomplish a specific objective.
- Comeback Shot
- An opportunity to hit an opponent’s blot immediately after being hit yourself; in particular, an opportunity to hit from the bar.
- Come In
- Enter.
- Comfort Station
- Mid-point.
- Committed Position
- A position from which there is only one reasonable game plan for winning, as opposed to a noncommitted position.
- Communicate
- To keep checkers within six pips of one another for mutual support; see connectivity.
- Compact Position
- A position with several made points close to one another and few gaps.
- Confetti
- What you sometimes get paid in if you are not careful with whom you play.
- Confidence Interval
- A range of values that contain, with a certain probability, a rollout’s convergence value. For example, with a 95%-confidence interval, there is only a 5% chance that performing the same rollout an infinite number of times will yield a result outside the interval. See post by Stig Eide.
- Connected Position
- A position in which all fifteen of a player’s checkers are located within a short distance of each other. A position which is well-connected will tend to stay well-connected.
- Connectivity
- The degree to which all of a player’s checkers work together as a unified army without large gaps between them. Connected checkers defend each other and are easily made into points.
- Consolation Division
- Consolation flight.
- Consolation Flight
- A event for players eliminated early in the main flight of an elimination tournament; sometimes called a sympathy flight.
- Consolidate
- To reduce the number of blots a player has, frequently as a precursor to offering a double.
- Consultation
- Advice offered by the crew to the captain in a chouette.
- Contact Position
- A game where the opposing forces have not moved past each other and where it is still possible for one player to hit or block the other. Compare: Pure Race.
- Contain a Checker
- To prevent an opposing checker from escaping to its own side of the board by blocking it or hitting it and sending it back.
- Control a Point
- A player controls a point if he has two or more checkers on that point. Only the player who controls a point may move additional checkers to that point.
- Control the Cube
- Own the cube.
- Convergence Value (of a Rollout)
- 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.
- Correspondence Games
- Games played by e-mail.
- Count
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- 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.
- Counter
- Checker.
- Counterclockwise
- 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.
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- Counterplay
- Possibilities for retaliation, switching from a defensive posture to an offensive posture.
- Count the Position
- To tabulate the players’ pip counts to find out who is ahead in the race and by how much.
- Coup Classique
- 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.
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- Cover a Blot
- To add a second checker to a blot, thereby making the point.
- CPW
- Cubeless probability of winning.
- Cramped
- Having little or no mobility.
- Crawford Game
- The first game in a match after either player comes to within one point of winning. The rules of match play say that the doubling cube may not be used during the Crawford game. See: Crawford Rule.
- Crawford Rule
- [Named for John R. Crawford.] A standard rule of match play. After either player comes within one point 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.
- Crew
- In a chouette, members of the team who play with the captain against the box.
- Crossover
- The movement of a checker from one quadrant of the board to an adjacent quadrant.
- Crossover Count
- The total number of crossovers needed to get all your checkers home and then borne off.
- Crunch
- The forced evacuation of desirable points due to the lack of alternate plays; in particular, a position in which you are forced to bury checkers deep within your home board.
- Crunched Position
- A position which has collapsed, with several checkers being forced to the low points in the player’s home board while other checkers remain in the opponent’s territory.
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- Crunching Position
- A priming game in which one side is about to collapse, but has not done so yet.
- Cube
- Doubling cube.
- Cube Action
- All of the cube decisions associated with a given position, namely: (a) whether the player on roll should double, and (b) whether his opponent should accept the double, refuse the double, or possibly beaver.
- Cube Decision
- The choice of whether or not to offer a double, or the choice of whether to accept, or refuse a double that has been offered.
- Cubeful Equity
- In money play with the doubling cube, the absolute value of a position to one of the players compared to the initial stake being played for. See: Equity. Cubeful equity considers the current value of the cube, cube ownership, and the potential for future doubles. In match play, cubeful equity corresponds to the probability of winning the match from the current position. Compare: Cubeless Equity.
- Cubeful Rollout
- A rollout performed with the doubling cube in play. All appropriate cube decisions are made as the position is played out. That means some trials will end in a dropped double and others will end with the cube at 2, or 4, or even higher. Cubeful rollouts more accurately simulate actual games than cubeless rollouts, but they have greater variance, so they do not converge as quickly. And cubeful rollouts may be more susceptible to systematic error because of cube misplays.
- Cube Handling
- The art or skill of making cube decisions.
- Cube in the Middle
- See: Centered Cube.
- Cubeless Equity
- The value of a position if the game is played without a doubling cube. This is a value between -3 and +3 and is equal to P(W) + P(Wg) + P(Wbg) - P(L) - P(Lg) - P(Lbg), where P(W) is the probability of winning the game, P(Wg) is the probability of winning a gammon (or backgammon), P(Wbg) is the probability of winning a backgammon, P(L) is the probability of losing the game, P(Lg) is the probability of losing a gammon (or backgammon), P(Lbg) is the probability of losing a backgammon. Compare: Cubeful Equity.
- Cubeless Probability of Winning
- The chance of winning the game if no doubling cube is used; also called game winning chances.
- Cubeless Rollout
- A rollout performed without using a doubling cube. Each trial is played to the end of the game and scored plus or minus 1, 2, or 3 points depending on whether gamed ended in a single game, gammon, or backgammon. Because cubeless rollouts do not include cube play, they do not perfectly simulate a game, but cubeless rollouts have less variance and less systematic error than cubeful rollouts.
- Cube Ownership
- Which player has the right to make the next double. At the start of the game, the cube is in the middle and either player may double. After one player accepts another’s double, he owns the cube, and only that player may make the next double.
- Cube Play
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- The act of offering a double, or the act of accepting or refusing the opponent’s double.
- The art or skill of making cube decisions. Compare: Checker Play.
- Cube Proxy
- A player in a chouette who temporarily handles the cube for another while that player is away from the game. See post by Ilia Guzei.
- Cube Reference Position
- A position for which the correct cube action is known which serves as a standard by which other similar positions may be judged. See post by Chuck Bower.
- Cup
- Dice cup.
- Current Stake
- The initial stake multiplied by the value of the doubling cube.
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