Online Backgammon Glossary
Your
complete Backgammon Dictionary
Just start playing backgammon and have no idea what people you are playing are saying half the time? Been playing backgammon for awhile but still get stuck by some experienced player's mastery of backgammon jargon? If you are looking for a particular backgammon term just click on the letter below and scroll down until you find it.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
N
NackGammon : A variation of Backgammon where two checkers are taken off the midpoint and 6 pt. and placed on the 23 pt. causing each player to start with four checkers in the opposing home board.
Invented by Nick (Nack) Ballard. Nackgammon is an effective way of practicing playing from behind and maintaining communication between checkers.
Naturally : To make a point naturally (without slotting or with builders). Rolling a 3-1 is a way to make the 5 pt. naturally.
Neil's Numbers: A set of numbers developed by Neil Kazaross to help calculate Match Equity based on the current match score. The winner's probability of winning is 50% + the lead multiplied by Neil's Number.
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No -Brainer: A running game where no further contact is possible and the outcome depends only on the roll of the dice, or an obvious play that requires very little thought to make. A running game is a no brainer because it requires very little thought and the outcome is almost solely determined by the numbers rolled on the dice.
Non -Contact Game: The race. Both sides have effectively side stepped their opponents checkers and now have the sole objective of bearing them all off. The player ahead in the race prefers a non-contact game.
Nothing Game: A poor relation of the back game in which you hold several good points in your opponents inner board but have all your other men too far forward in your inner board making it easy for them to re-enter and get around the board. A roll that prematurely crunches your board can turn a backgame into a nothing game.
Normalized Match Score: The score in terms of how many points are still needed to win the match. (e.g. 1-away, 2-away). The way you make decisions at 3-away 2-away is the same regardless of whether you are playing a match to 5 or 15.
Nullo Play: Making a play that does nothing positive and is not better than any other possibility. Usually a big error. When you do absolutely nothing constructive when you had better options, it is a nullo play.
Number of Shots: See Shot. The number of times out of 36 that a
shot will be hit.