The Crawford rule
The Crawford rule is the one match rule every tournament player uses: once a player is a point from winning, the next game is played without the doubling cube. Here is exactly when it applies, why it exists, and how it changes your play.
The rule
The Crawford rule applies only in match play, where players play to a set number of points. It says:
- The first time either player reaches one point short of winning the match, the next game is the Crawford game.
- In the Crawford game neither player may double. The doubling cube stays in the middle at 1.
- After the Crawford game, if the match is not over, the cube comes back into play as normal. These are the post-Crawford games.
Players describe the score by how many points each side still needs. A player one point from victory is "1-away". So the Crawford game is the first game after someone becomes 1-away, and it happens at most once per match. The rule is standard in tournaments and in online play, including in Backgammon Lounge.
A worked example
Here is a 5-point match, game by game, with your score first:
| Game | What happens | Score after | Cube |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | You win a single game | 1 – 0 | Normal game, cube in play |
| 2 | Opponent wins a gammon | 1 – 2 | Normal game, cube in play |
| 3 | You win, doubled to 2, and win a gammon | 4 – 2 | You reach 4: one point from winning |
| 4 | Opponent wins a single game | 4 – 3 | The Crawford game: no doubling |
| 5 | Opponent doubles at once; you take and win | Match won | Post-Crawford: the double gives you 2 points |
After game 3 you are 1-away, so game 4 is the Crawford game and nobody may double. Your opponent wins it and reaches 3, or 2-away. Game 5 is post-Crawford: the cube is back, and your opponent, who needs two points, doubles at the first chance. If you had won the Crawford game instead, the match would have ended there.
Why the rule exists
Imagine a 5-point match with no Crawford rule, where you lead 4 to 1. You need one point; your opponent needs four. Your opponent should double at the very start of every game: losing a doubled game costs them nothing extra, because losing any game already loses the match. Winning a doubled game gives them two points instead of one. And you gain nothing by refusing, since a refusal also hands them a point.
So without the rule, the trailer gets a free double in every game, and a big lead is worth much less than it should be. The Crawford rule gives the leader one game, the Crawford game, in which the trailer cannot use the cube. The leader then has a real chance to close out the match before the trailer's free doubles start.
Playing the Crawford game
With no cube, the Crawford game is all about gammons. The leader needs one point, so a gammon is worth nothing extra to them, but losing one can hurt: at 4-away, the trailer who wins a gammon jumps two points closer. The leader should play safe and avoid gammonish positions, sometimes giving up a little winning chance to cut down gammon losses.
The trailer wants the opposite. A gammon is worth two points to them, which can be decisive at scores like 1-away/2-away (a gammon wins the match outright) or 1-away/4-away (a gammon takes them to 2-away). The trailer can play boldly for a gammon: attacking, hitting loose and building a strong home board, since a single win is only worth one point.
One special case: if the trailer needs exactly one point too, at 1-away/1-away, the game is called double match point. That is never the Crawford game, because the Crawford game must come before it, and in it gammons and the cube make no difference at all.
Post-Crawford games
After the Crawford game the cube is back. The leader still needs only one point, so a double never helps them: the leader should never double post-Crawford. The trailer must win this game anyway, so they lose almost nothing by doubling and gain twice the points when they win.
That is why the trailer normally doubles on their very first turn of every post-Crawford game, and the leader normally takes, since a drop would just give the trailer the point they need.
The free drop
The big exception is the free drop. When the trailer needs an even number of points, say they are 2-away, a drop costs the leader only one point and leaves the trailer at 1-away, where the next game decides the match. If the leader takes and loses, the doubled game also ends the match. So at 1-away/2-away the leader can drop the trailer's first double "for free" whenever the current game looks worse than a fresh start, for example after the trailer wins the opening roll or makes a strong point.
Because of this, the trailer at 2-away often waits a roll or two and doubles only when the leader would have to drop or the game has turned in their favour. At 4-away and other even scores the same idea applies to a smaller degree. At odd scores like 3-away there is no free drop, and doubling at once is clearly right.
Who was Crawford?
The rule is named after John R. Crawford (1915–1976), an American bridge champion and backgammon expert and one of the authors of The Backgammon Book. He saw that free doubles made a match lead fragile and proposed the one game without the cube. The rule was adopted in tournaments and is now part of the standard match rules everywhere. His wife, Carol Crawford, was herself a world backgammon champion. See the list of world champions and the history of backgammon.
The Holland rule and other variations
Before the Crawford rule became universal, some events used the Holland rule. Under it, in post-Crawford games the trailer could not double until a couple of turns into each game. The aim was to make post-Crawford cube handling a matter of skill. It was popular in the 1980s but is rarely used now.
Casual players sometimes agree to play a match with no Crawford rule at all. That is allowed if both agree, but it favours the trailer heavily, and every tournament and online site uses the standard rule. Don't mix up the Crawford rule with the Jacoby rule, which is a money game rule: gammons do not count until the cube has been turned.
The best way to feel the rule is to play some matches. In Backgammon Lounge, matches to 3, 5, 10 or 15 points use the Crawford rule, and the board shows when a game is the Crawford game. Start a match against the computer, or read more on match strategy and the glossary.
Questions
What is the Crawford rule in backgammon?
In match play, the first time a player gets to one point short of winning the match, the next game is played without the doubling cube. That one game is the Crawford game. From the game after it, the cube is back in play.
What is the Crawford game?
The single game of a match in which neither player may double. It is the game played right after one player first reaches match point minus one, for example the game after a player reaches 4 points in a 5-point match.
Can either player double in the Crawford game?
No. Neither the leader nor the trailer may use the cube during the Crawford game. It is played for one point, two for a gammon and three for a backgammon.
Does the Crawford rule apply to money games?
No. The Crawford rule exists only in matches, because only a match has a target score. In money games the Jacoby rule and beavers are the usual optional rules instead.
Does the Crawford game happen more than once?
No. It happens once per match at most, the first time either player reaches one point short of winning. If the trailer later also reaches match point minus one, there is no second Crawford game.
Can there be a match with no Crawford game?
Yes. If a player jumps straight from two or more points away to winning, for example by winning a gammon, nobody ever stood one point away and no Crawford game is played.
Should the trailer double immediately after the Crawford game?
Almost always. Once the leader needs only one point, the trailer must win the game anyway, so doubling costs almost nothing and doubles what a win is worth. The main exception is when the leader has a free drop, at an even number of points away such as 2-away, where waiting a roll or two can be right.
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