The Crawford Rule

The Crawford rule is designed to make match play more equitable for the player in the lead. If a player is one point away from winning a match, his opponent has no incentive not to double; whether the game is worth one point or two, the outcome of the match is unaffected. To balance the situation, the Crawford rule requires that when a player first reaches a score one point short of winning the match, neither player may use the doubling cube for the following, called the Crawford game. After the Crawford game, normal use of the doubling cube resumes. The Crawford rule is normally used in most match play.