Tavli (Greek: Τάβλι), sometimes called Greek Backgammon in English,^[1] is the most popular way of playing tables games in Greece and Cyprus and is their national board game.^[2][3] Tavli is a compendium game for two players which comprises three different variants played in succession: Portes, Plakoto and Fevga. These are played in a cycle until one player reaches the target score - usually five or seven points.^[4]

Description

Tables games are an ancient family of race games, the best known modern example of which is Backgammon. 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 or pieces.^[4]

Portes

Portes is the game that resembles Backgammon most closely. It is a hitting game in which the players may hit enemy blots off the board.^[5] The starting layout and rules are as for Backgammon except that:^[6]

• 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.

Plakoto

Plakoto is the second game in the sequence. It is a pinning game in which hitting is not permitted.^[5] Key features include:^[7]

• Players may pin a single opposing man in place by covering it with one of their own men, preventing the pinned piece 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 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.^[5] Thus single man 'makes the point'.^[5] It is a game of parallel movement, both players moving in an anticlockwise direction.^[8]

Other key features:^[9]

• 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.