C

Candlesticks - A position in which a player's stones are piled high on a few points. 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.

Catchers - stones which have been purposely spread out to maximize the chance of hitting an opposing stone if it tries to escape.

Centered Cube - The position of the doubling cube before either player has doubled. A centered doubling cube is placed halfway between the players at the start of each game with the number 64 facing up.

Chase - To play dangerously, especially in offering or accepting doubles, to try to recover losses.

Cinque-Point - The French term 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 stones off of a point.

Clear from the Rear - The best general strategy to use when bearing in or bearing off against opposition. You try to clear off your highest point first and avoid creating gaps.

Close a Point - Make a point or an anchor. That means placing two or more of your stones on a point.

Closed Board - A player's home board when all six points are blocked.

Closed Point - A point containing two or more stones; a block or an anchor.

Close Out - To close all six of your home board points while the opponent has one or more stones on the bar. The opponent is then prevented from moving on any dice throw until one of the closed points is opened.

Cocked Dice - Dice which do not both land flat on the surface of the half of the board to the player's right when cast. The dice must be thrown over.

Cock Shot - Entering from the bar with a roll of 6-2, then hitting a blot on the eight-point when the only open point is the two-point.

Combination Shot - An opportunity to hit an opposing blot that requires using the numbers on both dice taken together; also called an indirect shot.

Comeback Shot - An opportunity to hit an opponent's blot immediately after being hit yourself.

Come In - Enter from the bar.

Comfort Station - Mid-point.

Committed Position - A position from which there is only one reasonable game plan for winning.

Communicate - To keep stones within six pips of one another for mutual support, so they can be covered with only one of the dice..

Compact Position - A position with several made points close to one another and few gaps.

Connected Position - A position in which all fifteen of a player's stones 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 stones work together as a unified army without large gaps between them. Connected stones 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, usually in preparation for doubling.

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. The opposite of a pure race.

Contain a stone - To prevent an opposing stone from escaping to its own side of the board by blocking it or hitting it and sending it back.

Correspondence Games - Games played by e-mail.

Counter - Stone, checker or man.

Counterplay - Possibilities for retaliation, switching from a defensive posture to an offensive posture.

Count the Position - To figure out the players' pip counts to find out who is ahead in the race and by how much.

Coup Classique - A win from the seemingly hopeless position where your opponent has borne off twelve stones and has just three stones remaining on his two-point. You bravely maintain contact with a single stone on his one-point, risking a backgammon and have your other fourteen stones where they can contain his stones if you are able to hit one or two of them. Winning a coup classique is especially satisfying for you will make your opponent crazy!

Cover a Blot - To add a second stone to a blot, thereby making the point.

Cramped - Having little or no mobility.

Crawford Game - The very next game in a match when one of the players 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.

Crossover - The movement of a stone from one quadrant of the board to an adjacent quadrant.

Crossover Count - The total number of crossovers needed to get all your stones home and then borne off.

Crunch - The forced uncovering of desirable points due to the lack of mobility; in particular, the case where you are forced to bury stones deep within your home board where they can't attack.

Crunched Position - A position which has collapsed due to a crunch.

Crunching Position - A priming game in which one side is about to collapse, but has not done so yet.

Cube - The doubling cube.

Cube Action - All possible cube decisions within a particular position.

Cube Ownership - Which player has the right to make the next double. At the beginning both own it.

Cup - The dice cup.