International Backgammon

Backgammon is played all over the world. Backgammon has different names in different languages and sometimes even different rules. For example, in Turkey, backgammon is called Tavla and it is played without the doubling cube, while in Greece, three different games are played on the backgammon board, known as Tavil. Continue reading this international backgammon guide to learn how to play backgammon in different parts of the world.

Tavla

Tavla is the name of the backgammon game in Turkish. Tavla rules are similar but not identical to backgammon rules: there is no doubling cube and no backgammon in the meaning of a triple game. To open the game, the player who had rolled the higher die rerolls to make the first movement. In Tavla, you cannot hit and run for cover in your home board and when bearing off, you cannot play a smaller number and use the rest of the pips to move a checker forward.

Tawula

Tawula, or Turkish Backgammon, is a backgammon variation played mainly in Turkey and Egypt. The Tawula game begins when each player has only one checker on the board (on the right corner in diagonal opposites from each other), and the object of the game is to enter the rest of the checkers back into the board, then move them around the board (both players move in the same direction, counterclockwise), and eventually bear them off.

Tavli

Tavli is the Greek name for backgammon. It actually refers to the board, on which three different games are played:

Portes - the Tavli game is almost identical to standard backgammon, yet the game is played without the doubling cube, with no backgammon (as triple game), and at the start of the game, the player who had rolled the higher die rerolls to make the first movement.

Plakoto - this Tavli game begins with each player's 15 checkers placed on their 24-point, and the object of the game is to move all checkers around the board to the players' home boards and then bear them off the board.

Fevga - the most complicated of all Tavli games, in which each player places his 15 checkers on their right corner in diagonal opposites from each other. The players move their checkers around the board (in the same direction, counterclockwise) and then bear them off.

Narde

Narde is the Russian game of backgammon. The game rules are very similar to Greek Fevga rules, with all fifteen checkers placed on the 1-point and the 24-point, and both players move their checkers in the same direction counterclockwise and then bear them off.

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