S

Safe - Free from danger of being hit.

Safe Play - A strategy that leaves no blots, or a strategy that leaves blots only in positions where the opponent is unlikely to hit.

Safety a stone - To move a stone out of danger of being hit.

Safety Up - Cover a blot or move it out of range of being hit.

Sandbag - To conceal or misrepresent your true ability or to enter a tournament division below your skill level.

Save a Number - To leave a position in which a particular number will play comfortably next turn so you will not be forced you to destroy your position if you roll that number.

Secure a Point - Cover a blot.

Semifinalist - One of the four players competing in the semifinals of an elimination tournament.

Semifinals - The second-last round of an elimination tournament; the one that determines the two players who advance to the finals.

Settlement - A decision to end a game early with the payment of points by one player to the other based on the agreed fair value of the position.

Shark - A good player who seeks out weaker players and persuades them to play for high stakes.

Shift Gears - Change game plan.

Shift Points - To give up one point in order to make an adjacent point.

Shot - An opportunity to hit an opponent's blot.

Simple Direct Shot - A blot within range of being hit with a single number.

Single Elimination - A tournament format in which each competitor continues playing until he loses.

Single Game - A completed game for which the result is not a gammon or a backgammon.

Single Shot - One blot which can be directly hit in only one way.

Slot - To place a single stone on a point you wish to make.

Slot and Split - To slot a stone in your own home board while your runners are split.

Small Play - A safe play when a bolder, more aggressive play is available.

Solid Prime - A prime with no gaps; a full prime.

Split - To separate two stones which are together on a point and leave them as blots.

Squeeze - To take advantage of the opponent's requirement to make a move which will be disadvantageous for him.

Stack - Four or more stones piled on a point.

Stakes - The amount wagered by the participants in a game of backgammon per point.

Stay Back - To remain in the opponent's home board.

Stay Off - Fail to enter from the bar.

Stay Out - Fail to enter from the bar.

Steam - To play wildly, out of annoyance or impatience at one's bad luck. To lose one's emotional stability in a gambling context; To take bigger and bigger risks in an effort to recoup earlier losses.

Steamer - One who steams.

Stone - Checker, piece, man.

Straight Race - Pure race.

Stretched - A position barren of spare stones or builders.

Strip a Point - To remove all but two stones from a point.

Stripped - Stretched.

Strong Board - A home board with several anchors.

Suicide Play - To purposely leave a blot to be hit so it can be recirculated. Also known as a Hara-Kiri play.

Swiss-Cheese Formation - A position with many gaps and few adjacent anchors.

Sympathy Flight - Consolation flight.