Backgammon has to be one of the most deceptive games out there, after all, to the inexperienced and unskilled eye it is little more than the movement of black and white counters seemingly at random. How hard can that be?


The only problems is that these people will then sit down and engage in a game, typically with a more experienced and seasoned player than themselves only to find themselves floundering under the pressure. The veteran will unleash a volley of different and curious words, all of which will sound utterly alien to the novice player.


Whilst the rookie may feel that this is little more than a clever strategy adopted by the experienced player to further confuse and therefore undermine them, this is not the case.


Backgammon, like any other activity has its own terminology and jargon and whilst these can be learned within a fairly short period of time by actually playing the game, being aware of the terms as well as their meaning is highly beneficial.


Many rookies will no doubt have read thus far, and groan inwardly, being of the opinion that they are “to play the game and enjoy themselves” as opposed to learning it like some sort of chore.


However, even the most shallow of appreciation for the different terms, their significance and their meanings will not only better enable to the player to actually play the game, but will also go a considerable way to improving their overall enjoyment of the game. Some of these terms whilst quaint, have some semblance of logic to them, others however are frankly eccentric in the extreme!


Backgammon involves the rolling of dice to arbitrarily determine the number of spaces a player can move during the course of their turn, and a beneficial roll is oddly, called a “joker”.  In backgammon there are two players and to more clearly distinguish between their progress and their scores, they are given different colours black and white. “to race” in the context of backgammon means that a comparison between the current score between the players has been made, and the player with the higher of the scores is said to be “leading” whilst the “losing” player is said to be “trailing.”


There are many more different terms and phrases that are used and are unique to the exciting game of backgammon, but really the most important thing to do is to have fun.