Before you begin to play backgammon online or in real life, it’s a good idea to learn the terminology used by serious backgammon players. The terms are presented here not in alphabetical order, as you might expect, but rather starting from the most easily understandable terms, and moving on towards more complex terms, you need to know certain backgammon terms that will help you understand the game. Below are common backgammon terms:

a. Anchor
The term "Anchor" is used when two or more chips occupy a same point on the board.

b. Backgammon
When a player wins the game by removing all the checkers from the board and his/her opponent has hasn't removed a single checker out of the board and one or more checkers remains in the winning players section, the term Backgammon is used to describe the victory. The winning player scores 3 times the number shown on the doubling cube.

c. Bar
A partition that separates the backgammon board in 2 parts! Whenever a player hits another player's chips, that chip is moved to the bar and it must be removed from the bar before moving other chips/checkers.

d. Bear off
Bear off refers to removing chips from the board and thereby win the game. Once all the chips enter in your section or table, you can bear off out of the board.

e. Blot
Blot refers to a point where only one chip is placed. It is easy to hit the blot and send it to the bar. This is one of the most common strategies used throughout the game.

f. Closed Point
When an opponent block the point by placing 2 or more chips on that point, the term Closed point is used. Closed point ensures safety of the chip as no player can hit the chips on closed point.

g. Doubling
Doubling refers to increasing the stake of the game by pressing the "Double" button. Doubling can only be done before throwing the dice.

h. Doubling Cube
This represents the doubled value of the game after doubling has been accepted by the opponent. Doubling can only be done twice, one time by each player during a game.

i. Gammon
A situation where a winner bears off all the chips before his/her opponent has borne off any chip. When a winner wins by Gammon, he/she scores double the game stake. For example, if original stake was 2 or 4, then winner gets 4 or 8.

j. Home Table
Home table is the section of the board where numbers 1-6 are written. Each player gets his own section numbered 1-6 on the right corner and is referred to as home table.