Backgammon match play: the Crawford rule and thinking at the score

In a money game (partie libre), each game is settled on its own, usually for a stake per point. There is no target score, so cube decisions depend on the position alone. Optional money rules such as the Jacoby rule, beavers and automatic doubles belong there: they are not used in match play.

In a match, the first player to reach an agreed number of points wins. Points come from each game: a single game, a gammon or a backgammon, times the value of the doubling cube. The goal is to win the match, not to maximize points. That is why the same checker play or cube decision can be right at one score and wrong at another.

Each game adds its value to the winner's score:

• Single game: 1 × the cube.
• Gammon: 2 × the cube (the loser has not borne off a single checker).
• Backgammon: 3 × the cube (the loser also still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board).

Match lengths are almost always odd numbers (3, 5, 7, 11…) by tradition. On Megammon, ranked matches are played to 1, 3, 5 or 7 points, with the cube from 3 points up, and the Crawford rule applied automatically. Against the bot or a friend you can choose any odd length from 1 to 13.

Players talk about the score in away notation: how many points each side still needs. In a 5-point match at 3–2, the leader is 2-away and the trailer is 3-away. Written as 2-away / 3-away (leader first, or with names), it tells you what each result is worth without restating the whole match length.

• 1-away means the next point (or the next game, if the cube is out) can win the match for that player (match point).
• 2-away often makes gammons and the cube especially sharp, because a gammon can end the match in one game.
• Early scores (for example 7-away / 7-away) tend to feel closer to money-game decisions; late scores diverge fast.

The Crawford rule is standard in match play. The first time a player gets one point away from winning the match, the next game — the Crawford game — is played without the doubling cube. Without this rule, the trailing player could double at once in every remaining game at no real risk, since losing any game would end the match anyway.

Worked example in a 5-point match. At 4–2, the leader is 1-away and the trailer is 3-away. The next game is Crawford: cubeless. If the leader wins a single game, the match is over (5–2). If the trailer wins a single game, the score becomes 4–3 (1-away / 2-away) and the cube returns for the rest of the match (post-Crawford). A trailer gammon would make it 4–4, double match point, which is barely better for the trailer than 4–3 (see the free drop below); only a backgammon would win the match outright.

Once the Crawford game is over, the cube is back until the match ends. These games are post-Crawford. The leader still needs only one point, so owning the cube is worth nothing to them: a redouble cannot help them win more than the one point they need, while a take can cost them the match in a single swing.

• The trailer should almost always double, usually at the first opportunity. Giving free chances at cube value 1, when a double is available, tends to leak match equity.
• The leader then decides take or pass with the match on the line for a two-point (or higher) loss if they take and lose.
• Gammons still matter for the trailer when they need more points than the cube already gives: with the cube on 2, from 3-away up. At 2-away, a single win on a 2-cube is enough. For the leader at 1-away, winning a gammon adds nothing, but losing one can still cost more.

A free drop is a post-Crawford take decision where the leader can refuse the trailer's double and give up only one point, often leaving a score that is no worse for match-winning chances than taking a dangerous cube. The classic setting is leader 1-away, trailer 2-away after Crawford: the trailer doubles at once; the leader can pass and go to 1-away / 1-away (double match point), or take and risk losing two points (the match) in positions where a gammon would not help the leader anyway.

• It is not always free. Whether the pass is truly cheap depends on the position and how gammonish it is; treat “free drop” as a cue to compare passing into DMP with taking a volatile cube, not as an automatic pass.
• The trailer's score matters. The free-drop pattern tends to come back when the trailer is at another even score, such as 4-away: passing leaves them 3-away, often little better placed than at 4-away. At odd scores such as 3-away or 5-away, the leader takes much more often.
• Do not confuse it with money-game beaver or Jacoby rules. Those optional money conventions do not apply in matches.

Double match point (DMP) means both players need one point: whoever wins the next game wins the match. There is no cube to turn, and gammons do not matter — a single game, a gammon and a backgammon all win the match the same way.

• Checker play aims only at winning the game. Volatility that would chase a gammon in money play is often wrong; volatility that risks losing a game you could save is often wrong the other way.
• 1-point matches are pure DMP from the start. On Megammon, ranked 1-point matches have no cube for that reason.
• Many post-Crawford free drops lead to DMP when the trailer was 2-away and the leader passed.

The cube is only half of match thinking. Most checker plays are the same as in a money game, but when the score does change the best play, it tends to be through what a gammon is worth to each side — the gammon value at that score.

• Leading and needing few points, you tend to prefer the safer play that wins the match without volunteering gammon risk.
• Trailing and needing a swing, you tend to accept more contact and more gammonish volatility, because a quiet loss may not be enough.
• At DMP, play to win the game; ignore gammon-hunting that does not raise your win chance.
• In the Crawford game, there is no cube, but gammons still count: at 2-away a trailer gammon wins the match, and at some other scores, such as 4-away, it is worth much more than a single win. For the leader at 1-away, a gammon is worth no more than a single game. Crawford is cubeless, not “gammons never matter”.

For how gammons swing with the score in more detail, see gammons in match play. For the five game plans underneath, see backgammon strategy.

Match feel comes from playing real scores with the cube and Crawford on, then reviewing the decisions the score changed. On Megammon you can play the bot with no sign-up, play a friend, or play ranked matches online.

New to the rules? Start with match play on the rules page, then come back here. Getting ready for a live event? See backgammon tournaments. Want the cube window at every score? Open doubling strategy.