Backgammon Glossary Dictionary: P

Parlay: A succession of events, each of which depends on the preceding event. The probability of the entire parlay is equal to the product of the probabilities of the individual events.
Partial Prime: A prime of fewer than six consecutive points. Compare: Full Prime.
Partner for the Box: Chouettes with a large number of players often permit the box to take a partner. The partnership is offered in rotation, starting with the captain and moving on down the line. If no one offers to be the box’s partner, a partner may be chosen by lot from among the team members other than the captain.
Pass: Refuse a double.
Pay Later: To play safe in the current position but risk greater danger later in the game. Compare: Pay Now. See: Pay-Now-or-Pay-Later Decision.
Pay Now: To take an immediate risk (such as leaving a shot) to avoid the prospect of a more serious risk later in the game. Compare: Pay Later. See: Pay-Now-or-Pay-Later Decision.
Pay-Now-Or-Pay-Later Decision: [From a 1980's television commercial for FRAM oil filters which showed a ruined car engine and a mechanic who quipped: "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later."] The problem of whether to take a modest but definite risk on the current turn or wait and perhaps take a more serious risk in the future.
Perfecta: The best possible roll; a joker.
Pick and Pass: To hit an opposing blot and continue the same checker to safety on the same play.

Pick Up

Hit a blot.

Piece

Checker.

Pigeon

The victim of a hustler.

Pip

One of the spots on a die that indicate numeric value.
A unit of distance on a backgammon board corresponding to the difference in point numbers. For example, the 13-point and the seven-point are six pips apart.

Pip Count

The total number of points (or pips) that a player must move his checkers to bring them home and bear them off. For example, at the start of a game each player has a pip count of 167: 48 pips for 2 checkers on the 24-point, plus 65 pips for 5 checkers on the 13-point, plus 24 pips for 3 checkers on the eight-point, plus 30 pips for 5 checkers on the six-point.

Plakoto

A Greek game in which players pin blots rather than hit them. See: How to Play Plakoto.

Play

The collection of moves a player makes in satisfying the requirements of a roll.

Play Safe

To avoid leaving blots which might be hit. See: Safe Play.

Play Site

Backgammon server.

Ply

One turn by one player, a measure of how far a player (or computer program) looks ahead when selecting a play or evaluating a position. See post by JP White. Note: There is no agreement in the backgammon community as to whether plies are counted starting at 0 (as GNU Backgammon does it) or starting at 1 (as Snowie does it). See this thread and this thread concerning the controversy.

POH

Point on head.

Point

One of the twenty-four narrow triangles, twelve on each side of a backgammon board, where the players’ checkers sit. The points are numbered for each player 1 to 12 across the near side of the board and 13 to 24 in the other direction across the far side of the board. Either player’s one-point is the other player’s 24-point.
A made point.
To point on a blot.
A unit of scoring. Each game is worth 1, 2, or 3 points (for a single game, a gammon, or a backgammon) multiplied by the value of the doubling cube.

Point Game

An old method of scoring in backgammon that is no longer used. The winner of the game gets 1 point for each checker in the loser’s home board, 2 points for each checker in the loser’s outer board, 3 points for each checker in the winner’s outer table, and 4 points for each checker on the bar or in the winner’s home table. See: 1931 Rules of Backgammon.

Point on a Blot

To hit an opposing blot with two of your checkers at the same time, thereby also making the point. Pointing on a blot in your home board is usually a very strong play.

Point on Head

Point on a blot.

Points per Game

A measure of playing performance equal to the total number of points won (or lost) divided by the number of games played.

Poof

A backgammon variant in which you always play the lower number of a roll first. See: How to Play Poof.

Portes

A Greek game similar to Western backgammon. See: How to Play Portes.

Position

The arrangement of checkers on a backgammon board.

Positional Play

A play that emphasizes fighting for and keeping key points over running or blitzing; a structural play.
A checker-play decision where strategy considerations dominate. See post by Adam Stocks. Compare: Technical Play.

Position Card

A card with a preprinted diagram of a backgammon board designed for recording a position.

Possession of the Doubling Cube: The player who last accepted a double is said to own the cube. Only that player may make the next double of the game. Prior to the first double, neither player owns the cube (see centered cube) and either player may double.
Post-Crawford: After the Crawford game.
Post Mortem: Analysis of a game or match after it has been completed.
PPG: Points per Game.
PRAT: Acronym for “Position, Race, And Threats,” a guideline for making cube decisions. According to the guideline, a player should double if he has an advantage in two of the three areas. And his opponent should pass if the player who doubled has an advantage in all three areas. See post by Alan Webb.
Precision Dice: Dice which have been carefully cut so their shape and balance are more accurate than regular dice and have pips that are flat and not dimpled. See posts by Patti Beadles and Larry Strommen.
Preclear: To evacuate a high point in your home board before all of your checkers are home in preparation for bearing off. You sometimes do this when the opponent holds an anchor deep in your home board and you are worried about clearing a high point safely during the bear off. By preclearing, you take advantage of opportune rolls at the time you get them.
Pre-Crawford: Before the Crawford game.
Premature Burial: Taking one or more checkers deep into your home board early in the game out of undue concern for short-term safety.
Premature Roll: A dice roll made by a player before the opponent has ended his turn by picking up the dice. Under U.S. rules, the premature roll is invalid and must be rethrown. Under BIBA rules, the premature roll stands but the player who did not pick up the dice may change his play in light of the new information.
Pressure: To advance a runner so it directly bears on an opponent’s blot, forcing the opponent to cover the blot, move it, or risk it being hit.
Prime

Six consecutive made points. An opposing checker trapped behind a prime cannot escape until the prime is broken.
Several consecutive made points, such as a 4-prime or 5-prime.

Primed

Trapped behind a prime.

Prime Fighter

A player who accepts a double when he has one or more checkers trapped behind an opponent’s prime.

Prime-vs-Prime

A game in which both players have long primes with opponent’s checkers trapped behind them. The winner of these games is often the player with better timing.

Priming Game

A type of game in which the primary strategy is to trap one or more opponent’s checkers behind your prime.

Progressive Consolation

A consolation tournament for losers in the first several rounds of the main tournament. Progressive means that losers in later rounds of the main event get one or more byes to later rounds of the consolation event. Compare: Nonprogressive Consolation.

Prop

Proposition.

Proposition

A prearranged position played several times, usually for money, as a means of settling a dispute over which checker play or cube action is best. See: Take/Drop Proposition.

Proxy

See Cube Proxy.

Puff

The German name for backgammon.
A German backgammon variant in which players enter in the same quadrant and move around the board in the same direction.

Pure Play

["Pure" because it focuses on one game plan.] Playing with the goal of making a prime. Pure play includes bringing builders into play quickly, slotting to make key points, keeping your checkers in front of the opponent’s checkers, and recirculating checkers as necessary. See post by Daniel Murphy and this thread.

Pure Race

A game in which the opposing forces have disengaged so there is no opportunity for further blocking or hitting by either side. In a pure race, your goal is simply to get your checkers home as quickly as possible and bear them off. Compare: Contact Position.

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