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Tavla - The Turkish Backgammon

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Tavla is the traditional backgammon game that played in Turkey. The Turkish consider the game hands-on men and they play it very fast, faster than the regular backgammon game. There is a similar game in Iran that called Takhteh. The source of the name Tavla is in the general name that given to board/table games. These games are similar to backgammon and played on a board. There are many variants of table games that are played over the world; Narde, Tavli, Nackgammon, Acey Deucey and many more. Tavla also belongs to this class.

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The rules of Tavla are similar as in regular backgammon, but not exactly the same; there are a few small differences in the way in which it is played. In this article we will survey all the rules of the game and the differences too.

First, let's begin with the setup; the checkers on the board are exactly the same as in regular backgammon: each player has 2 checkers on point 24, on the competitor's home- board, 5 checkers on point 12, 3 checkers on point 8 and another 5 checkers on the player own home- board- point 6. The purpose of the Tavla is also similar as in regular backgammon; and each player moves his checkers into his home- board, both players move the same direction, and then bears them off. The winner is the first player to bear off all his checkers. The starting of Tavla is a little bit different. First, each player rolls a die and the highest point starts the backgammon game. Not like in regular backgammon, the beginner rolls the dice again and then plays his first turn. If two players play series games of Tavla, the winner of the previous game goes first the next game.

The movement of the checkers in Tavla is like backgammon. The number of the dice indicates the points and according to this, the player moves his checkers on the board. There are several rules to apply. If you are familiar with those rules, of the regular backgammon, you may skip this part:
• A checker can land on an open point, means a point that is not occupied by 2 or more of the opponent's checkers.
• The numbers of the dice consider as two separate moves for each die, or moving one checker the total numbers of both dice result. For example: if the roll is 3 and 6, a player may move one checker 3 points and another 6 points. Or, he may move one checker a total 9 points. In both cases, a checker can land only on an open point (as we mentioned above). Also while playing one total move- only when the intermediate points are open.
• Doubles means a roll with the same numbers. The doubles are played twice. Let's say that a player has a roll of 2 and 2, it means that the player has 4 times of 2.
• A player must play both numbers of the dice (or 4, in the case of doubles), unless it is not possible.

Hitting in backgammon, means to land on an opponent's checker and placed it on the bar of the backgammon board. A player may hit only a blot (a single checker on a point). In Tavla, when you hit your partner's checker within your home- board, you can not run with your own checker. You can leave it as a blot, or cover your checker with another one, but you can not run with the hitting checker. If a player has one or more checkers on the bar, he first enters the checkers into the backgammon board. The entering is into the competitor's home- board, and according to the dice numbers, the checker can land on an open point, as you already know. If a player is able entering checkers into the partner's home- board, he must enter as many as it possible, if he is unable to enter, he loses his turn.

The Bear Off process begins when all your checkers into your home- board. You remove the checkers according to the dice roll. If there is no checker on a point, you make a move with it, and if there are no checkers on a higher- numbered point, you remove the checker that occupies the highest point. If a checker is hit during Bear Off, a player has to repeat the hitting process, as we mentioned above. In Tavla, not like backgammon, a player can not "waste" his checkers and move them if he can bear them off. It means, when possible, a player always must bear off first, than move the checker. For example, if the dice roll is 4 and 2, and you have 1 checker on point 3 and 2 checkers on point 1, you must remove the checker on point 3 first, and then the one on point 1. You can not move the checker on point 3 to point 1 and then bear off one checker.

The winner, who bears off all his checkers first, while his competitor borne off at list one checker, wins the game- one point. If the competitor has not bear off any checker, the winner wins 2 points. There is no doubling cube in Tavla.

For those who already familiar with the regular backgammon, this review summarizes the differences of Tavla from Backgammon:
• Opening- a player, who wins the opening roll, rolls again in his turn.
• Hitting- in a player home- board, he can not run with his hitting checker.
• Bear off- a player can not "waste" checkers, he first must bear them off and then move.
• Winning- one point for normal winning, two for gammon, but there is no backgammon win.
• Doubling cube- no use in Tavla.

Tavla is the Turkish backgammon, but there are people that play Tavla all over the world. It is very similar to the regular backgammon game, and each player can easily learn the differences and play Tavla.