It is a rare event when Black doubles without first making a new home point. Rare, but not impossible. Consider the cube position below. Black is on the roll in a cash game with Jacoby rule. Should Black cube? What is the cube action?

An amazing situation but is it a double?

White has a dancer on the bar. White’s position is completely stripped, not a single spare or blot anywhere on the backgammon board. That in itself is strange enough.

Golden anchor for Black but initial anchor for White.

White made two home points, Black none.

Structure: stripped midpoints still mirrored. Black has spares and builders, White has points. Those two anchors tell a tale, structurally.

Attack: White is on the bar for the moment. Black has the versatile anchor for an attack. Many attacking checkers in the Zone.

Blockade: builders ready to roll a prime onto a deep anchor. If successful, there can be no close out, but White still faces gammon jeopardy.

Running: Black is two average rolls ahead on the dice with the next toss about to begin. Black can easily roll the late prime home.

Gammon victories? As yet unknown. As a guess, White’s chances of gammoning Black decreased (compared to the opening roll) and Black’s gammon winning chances have similarly increased. Guess: about 3-to-1 advantage in the gammon department for Black?

Whether or not the position is a reference first cube, it would be a stunning benchmark if Black correctly doubles when no new home point has yet been made by Black.

Double or Wait?

From rollouts: The position is 25mp outside the doubling window.

Therefore, No Double.

And all is right with the world of stranger things.