Tavli (Greek: Τάβλι), sometimes called Greek Backgammon in English, is the most popular way of playing

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 ...

s (or 'backgammon games') 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 ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

and is their national board game.''All you need to know about Tavli, Greece's national board game''
at greekcitytimes.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022. Tavli is a

compendium game The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to Bridge, Hearts, Poker or Rummy), ...

for two players which comprises three different variants played in succession: Portes,

Plakoto Plakoto (Πλακωτό) is a tables game for two players that is popular in Greece. The object is for the player to bring all 15 pieces around to his or her own home board and then bear them off. The player who bears off all 15 pieces first ...

and Fevga. These are played in a cycle until one player reaches the target score - usually five or seven points.Papahristou (2015), pp. 33–34.

Description

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 ...

s are an ancient family of

race games Race game is a large category of board games, in which the object is to be the first to move all one's pieces to the end of a track. This is both the earliest type of board game known, with implements and representations dating back to at least t ...

, the best known modern example of which is

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 ...

. However, in Greece the most popular form of tables is Tavli, a word which is the equivalent of "tables games". Hence, this is not a single game, but a trio of tables games played to different rules and tactics. These are Portes, Plakoto and Fevga and they are played in that order until a player reaches the agreed target score. The aim in each game is to be the first player to bear off all 15

men A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chro ...

or pieces.

Portes

Portes is the game that resembles Backgammon most closely. It is a

hitting game 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 ...

in which the players may

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

enemy blots off the board.Papahristou & Refanidis (2013), pp. 2–3. The starting layout and rules are as for Backgammon except that:''Portes''
at bkgm.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022. * The player who leads re-rolls both dice to start the game. Thus a doublet is possible on the first move. * The game may either be won singly, or won double if the loser has yet to bear off a man. There is no equivalent of a backgammon and therefore no triple win. * There is no

doubling cube 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 ...

Plakoto

Plakoto is the second game in the sequence. It is a

pinning game 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 ...

in which hitting is not permitted. Key features include:''Plakoto''
at bkgm.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022. * Players may pin a single opposing

man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

in place by covering it with one of their own men, preventing the pinned

piece Piece or Pieces (not to be confused with peace) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Piece (chess), pieces deployed on a chessboard for playing the game of chess * ''Pieces'' (video game), a 1994 puzzle game for the Super NES * ...

from moving until the covering man is released. * Two or more pieces of the same side or a piece pinning an opposing man creates a

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

for the opponent. * Players start with all 15 men on point 24. * The last piece left on the starting point is the ''mother''. If she is pinned before moving off, the game is over and the pinning player wins double. * There is no doubling cube.

Fevga

Fevga is the third game in the series. It is a running game in which neither hitting nor pinning are permitted. Thus single man 'makes the

point Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

'. It is a game of

parallel movement 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 ...

, both players moving in an anticlockwise direction.''Fevga''
at bkgm.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022. Other key features:Papahristou (2015), pp. 31–32. * Players start with all 15 men on point 24. * No blocking. A player may not completely block the opponent i.e. in making a move, there must remain at least one possible move for the opponent. * No triple game. * No doubling cube.

References

Literature

* Bonner, Simon J. (2015). ''Encyclopedia of American Folklife''. London, NY: Routledge. * Hinebaugh, Jeffrey P. (2019). ''More Board Game Education''. London, NY: Rowman & Littlefield. * Papahristou, Nikolaos and Ioannis Refanidis (2013). ''Opening Statistics and Match Play for Backgammon Games''. Thessaloniki: University of Macedonia. * Papahristou, Nikolaos (2015)
''Decision Making in Multiplayer Environments: Application in backgammon variants''
Thessaloniki: University of Macedonia. Doctoral Studies Programme.

External links

rules at Backgammon Galore.

rules at Backgammon Galore.

rules at Backgammon Galore.

- rules

- highlights differences between Tavli and 'western style' Backgammon. {{Tables games Tables games Greek culture Cypriot culture