Jacoby rule

How it works in play

Under the Jacoby rule a gammon or backgammon counts only as a single game unless the cube has been turned. It pushes a player with a big advantage to double rather than quietly play on for a gammon. It is a money-play convention: matches always count gammons in full.

Related terms

• Gammon — Winning before the opponent bears off any checker. Worth 2× the cube value.
• Backgammon (win) — Winning before the opponent bears off any checker while they still have a checker on the bar or in your home board. Worth 3× the cube value.
• Double — An offer to double the stakes via the doubling cube, made before rolling.
• Automatic double — Money play only: a tied opening roll doubles the cube to 2.
• Beaver — Money play only: an immediate redouble by the player who was just doubled, keeping cube ownership.

Go deeper

• Rules: the Jacoby rule
• Backgammon strategy, from first roll to bear-off

In other languages

• العربيةقاعدة جاكوبي (Jacoby rule)
• ΕλληνικάΚανόνας Jacoby
• فارسیقانون جاکوبی
• עבריתחוק ג׳ייקובי (Jacoby rule)
• РусскийПравило Джекоби (Jacoby rule)
• TürkçeJacoby kuralı