Plakoto (Πλακωτό) is a
tables game
Tables games are a class of board game that includes backgammon and which are played on a tables board, typically with two rows of 12 vertical markings called points. Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tables games are among ...
for two players that is popular in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
. The object is for the player to bring all 15
pieces around to his or her own
home board
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to a ...
and then
bear them off
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to ...
. The player who bears off all 15 pieces first wins the game. This game is usually played along with two other variants,
Févga
Fevga is a popular Greek tables game for two players. It is usually played as one of three different games in succession – the others being Portes and Plakoto – in social gatherings or coffee shops. When played in this way, it is known as Ta ...
and Pórtes (the latter is similar to
backgammon
Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...
). Together these three games are called
Távli
Tavli (Greek: Τάβλι), sometimes called Greek Backgammon in English, is the most popular way of playing tables games (or 'backgammon games') in Greece and Cyprus and is their national board game.Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
n version of Plakoto is known as
Tapa
Tapa, TAPA, Tapas or Tapasya may refer to:
Media
*Tapas (website), a webtoon site, formerly known as Tapastic
* ''Tapas'' (film), a 2005 Spanish film
* ''Tapasya'' (1976 film), an Indian Hindi-language film
* ''Tapasya'' (1992 film), a Nepalese f ...
and also as Tsillitón (''Τσιλλιτόν''), in Cyprus.
Parlett places Plakoto in the same group as the popular mediaeval
game of English, as well as the French games of Tieste and Impérial, the Italian game of Testa and Spanish Emperador.
[Parlett (1999), p. 82.]
Play
Each player has fifteen
pieces. One player's pieces are placed on the ace-point; the opponent's pieces are placed on the 24 point. Players must move their pieces in opposing directions around the Plakotó board. At the start of the game each player rolls one
die
Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life.
Die may also refer to:
Games
* Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers
Manufacturing
* Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...
and the player with the higher roll has the privilege of going first. That player must roll the dice again to begin the first turn. The player who wins a game starts the next game. The number of points, or pips, or the places a player can move his pieces is decided by the roll of the dice.
Rules
In Plakoto a piece can only be moved to an open point. An open point is the one that is not occupied by two or more opposing pieces. The numbers cast after rolling the two dice represent separate moves. For example, if a player rolls 4 and 2, she may move a piece four spaces to an open point and a second piece two spaces to an open point. A player may also combine the casts and move a single piece a total of six spaces to an open point — the precondition for this single move is that the intermediate point (four or two spaces from the starting point) must also be open.
Doublets
Doublets in Plakoto are played twice. For example, a roll of 3-3 means that the player can use the three's four times. Whenever possible the player must use both numbers of a roll and all four numbers in the case he throws a doublet in rolling the dice.
Pinning
Hitting is not allowed in Plakoto. In its place, if a player lands on a point occupied by a single opposing piece, the opponent's piece is
pinned and cannot be moved until the pinning player moves his piece. A block is created by two pieces of a player lying on a point or one of his pieces pinning the opponent's piece.
Mother piece
The mother piece is the last piece on a player's starting point. It is very important in Plakoto, because if the mother piece gets pinned by an opposing piece before it has left the starting point, the game is over and lost double. This rule is waived if the opponent also has his own mother piece at the starting point. A game in which the mother pieces of both players are pinned results in a tie.
Bearing off
A player may only start bearing off in Plakoto after all fifteen pieces have reached the home board. A player can bear off by rolling a number that corresponds to the point on which the piece is placed. If there is no piece on the point indicated by the roll, then the player has to make a legal move using a piece on a higher-numbered point. If there are no pieces on higher-numbered points, the player must remove a piece from the highest point that has a piece. In this way he can remove all of his pieces from the board.
Scoring
The first player who bears off all his fifteen pieces is the winner. If the loser has successfully borne off at least one piece, he loses only one point; otherwise two points are lost.
References
Literature
* Frantzis, Nicholas (1979). ''The Seven Popular Games of Backgammon''. Hicksville, NY: Exposition. p. 42.
* Goldberg, Suzanne and Robert Hamilton (1996). ''Backgammon''. San Francisco: Gamescape. p. 1.
* Jacoby, Oswald and John R. Crawford (1970)
''The Backgammon Book'' NY: Viking. p. 212.
* Obolensky, Prince Alexis and Ted James (1969)
''Backgammon: The Action Game'' London: Allen. p. 165.
*
Parlett, David
David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association.
His published works include many pop ...
(1999). ''The Oxford History of Board Games''. Oxford: OUP.
* Ratip, Arman (1977). ''How to Play Backgammon.'' London: Spring. p. 38. (under "Press Backgammon")
* Tzannes, Nicolaos and Basil Tzannes (1977). ''Backgammon Games and Strategies''. South Brunswick: Barnes. p. 82.
External links
Backgammon Galore - Plakoto
{{tables games
Tables games
Greek culture
bg:Тапа (игра)