What is Match play?
In match play, two players play game after game until one of them reaches an agreed number of points, the match length, such as 3, 5 or 7. Each game is ordinary backgammon and is worth what it would be anyway: one point for a single win, two for a gammon and three for a backgammon, times the doubling cube. Whoever reaches the match length first wins the match.
The score changes how you play. A gammon that would double your winnings in a money game may be worth nothing if one point wins the match, and a double that is easy to take at 0-0 may be a pass near the end. Weighing these choices is the heart of match play.
The Crawford rule stops a trailing player from doubling at once in every game once the leader is one point from victory. The first game after the leader reaches that score, the Crawford game, is played without the cube; after it the cube is back. The rule is on by default and can be turned off in the table setup.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Backgammon | Match play |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Standard BackgammonA single game. | Match playA series of games until one player reaches the match length chosen at setup. |
| Points | Standard BackgammonOne point for a win, two for a gammon (the loser has borne off no checkers) and three for a backgammon (the loser also still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board). | Match playThe same points, times the cube, are added to each player's match score. |
| Crawford rule | Standard BackgammonThe cube can be used in every game. | Match playWith the cube on, no one may double in the first game after a player reaches one point short of the match length. |
| Jacoby rule | Standard BackgammonCan be added to a single game with the cube. | Match playNever applies: gammons always count in a match. |
| Next game | Standard BackgammonThe table ends after one game. | Match playThe next game starts at once, from the starting position, and the winner of the previous game rolls first. |
History
Backgammon tournaments have always been played as matches. The Crawford rule is named after John R. Crawford, an American bridge and backgammon champion, who proposed it to stop a trailing player from doubling in every game once the leader stood one point from victory. Together with Oswald Jacoby he wrote The Backgammon Book in 1970.
The Crawford rule is now standard in tournament play, including the World Backgammon Championship in Monte Carlo, held there since 1979. Matches are usually played to an odd number of points, from 3 or 5 in early rounds to 11, 17 or more in finals.