Tables game

This article is about the board game genre. For other uses, seeTable game.

Tables gamesare a class ofboard gamethat includesbackgammonand which are played on atables board,typically with two rows of 12 vertical markings calledpoints.Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tables games are among the oldest knownboard games,and many different varieties are played throughout the world. They are called 'tables' games because the boards consist of four quadrants or 'tables'. The vast majority arerace games,the tables board representing a linear race track with start and finish points, the aim being to be first to the finish line, but the characteristic features that distinguish tables games from other race games are that they are two-player games using a large number of pieces, usually fifteen per player.

Tables family

A tables board from Damascus
Years active	c. 3rd millennium BCto present
Players	2 (or more in some variants)
Setup time	< 1 minute
Playing time	5–30 minutes
Chance	Dice
Skills	Strategy,probability

Tables games should not be confused withtable gameswhich are casino gambling games likerouletteorblackjack.

Name

The word 'tables' is derived from the Latintabulawhich primarily meant 'board' or 'plank', but also referred to this genre of game. From its plural form,tabulae,come the names in other languages for this family of games including the Anglo-Saxontoefel,German[wurf]zabel,Greektavli,Italiantavoli,Scandinaviantafl,Spanishtablasand, of course, English and Frenchtables.The reason for the plural is twofold: first, that a tables board comprises four separate quadrants which are a feature of the play; and second, thattabulaealso came to refer to the individual pieces – 'tablemen' or 'men' for short – used in the various games.

Definition

Most, but not all,tables games are a type ofrace game.They are characterised as being:

• Played by two players and hence bilaterally symmetrical
• Multiplex games i.e. players have a large number of pieces
• Played on a rectangular board with players sitting on the long sides
• Played on a board with four quarters known as tables, hence the name.

Types

Tables games may be classified by movementor by tactics.

Movement

Parlett (1999) identifies three different modes of movement in tables games:

Games without movement

A small number of tables games involve no actual movement of pieces around the board. Instead pieces are entered or borne off or both, the aim being to be the first player to do so. Examples include Alfonso's Los Doze Canes also called Los Doze Hermanos, the English games ofDoubletsand Catch Dolt, the French games Renette, Tables Rabattues and Paumecary, the Icelandic game ofOfanfellingand the Levantine game of Eureika. Most of these games are simple pursuits suitable for children.

Games of contrary movement

This is the group to whichBackgammonbelongs. Some start with all pieces off the board, others with a fixed starting layout, but the aim in every case is to race them around the board in opposite directions and be first to bear them off. The group also includes Acey Deucey, known as Gegenpuff in German-speaking countries, Plakota, the 'English Game', the Spanish games of Emperador, Quinze Tablas andTodas Tablas,the Italian games of Tavole Reales and Testa, and the French games of Tieste, Impérial andTrictrac.

Games of parallel movement

Like other members of the tables family, games in this last group are often mistaken for Backgammon or assumed to be its variants, yet the direction of movement and hence play is quite different. Players move in the same direction around the board and that direction is always anticlockwise. The group includes the old German games of Langer Puff (known confusingly in English as German or Russian Backgammon) and Buffa, the Italian game of Buffa Cortese, the Spanish games ofLaquetand Pareia de Entrada, the continental game ofVerquere,FrenchJacquet,Turkish Moultezim and a curious Icelandic game called Chase the Girls.

Tactics

Papahristou & Refanidis (2013) categorise tables games by the type of attacking tactics permitted during the game:

Hitting games

This is the standard tactic in games ofcontrary movementsuch asBackgammonwhere players move their pieces in opposing directions. In ahitting game,the players mayhitenemyblotsoff the board. To do this a point must be occupied by only one opposing piece – this is called a blot – and the attacking player must move a piece onto that point. The blot is 'hit' or 'knocked off' the board and is usually placed on thebarbetween the two halves of the board.

Pinning games

Pinning gamesare also games of contrary movement. However, no hitting is allowed. Instead, the attacking player may pin a blot by moving a piece onto the same point. The blot is not removed from the board, but is trapped and not permitted to move until the covering man is moved off.Plakotois an example of a pinning game.

Running games

Arunning gameis a game in which no hitting or pinning is allowed and the game is essentially a race tobear offall one's pieces first. Points occupied even by one enemy man are blocked to the other side. They are usually games ofparallel movement,likeFevga,where players move around the board in the same direction, but some, likeGioulare games ofcontrary movementwhere players race their pieces past one another in opposing directions.

History

Numerous archaeological discoveries witness to game boards and artefacts bearing a strong resemblance to those used inrace gamesand ancient texts give an idea of their play in some cases. These bilateral race games may well be the ancestors of the tables game family. They include the Alea,Dogs and Jackals,Duodecim Scripta,the Game of Twenty, Grammai, theRoyal Game of Ur,SenetandNard.

The history of tables games may be divided into different periods of development:

• Pre-classical period:Grammaiand other early race games
• Classical period:notablyLudus duodecim scriptorumandTabula
• Nardperiod: from its invention or earliest appearance in Southwestern Asia (or Persia) before AD 800
• Tables period: tables games from their arrival in Spain or Italy from the Arabic world around the turn of the first millennium
• Modern period: the rise of more sophisticated games from the 15th century onwards includingTrictracand Backgammon

Pre-classical period

Persia

The history oftables gamesand theirrace gameforerunners can be traced back nearly 5,000 years to the Persia,where excavations in 2006 at theBurnt Cityunearthed objects that appear to be part of a game set dating to around 3000 BC. These artefacts include an ebony board, two dice and 60 pieces, with the playing fields represented by the coils of a serpent. The rules of this game, like others found in Egypt, have yet to be discovered. It is, however, made from ebony, a material more likely to be found in theIndian subcontinent,which indicates such board games may be more widespread than once thought.

Mesopotamia

Prior to the Persian discovery, the oldest board game sets had been found inUrand are thought to be around 100 to 200 years later. They were used for theRoyal Game of Ur,played in ancientMesopotamia.These finds are significant because of two Babylonian tablets with cuneiform descriptions of the game played on these game sets, the later one datedc. 177 BCand the other one dating to several centuries earlier.These represent the oldest rule sets of anyrace gameand clearly show this Sumerian game to be ancestral to the tables game family.

Egypt

Another ancient race game wasSenet,played by theancient Egyptiansaround the same time.Board fragments that could be Senet have been found inFirst Dynastyburials in Egypt,c. 3100 BC,but the first painting of this ancient game is from theThird Dynasty(c. 2686–2613 BC). People are depicted playing Senet in a painting in the tomb of Rashepes, as well as other tombs dating toc. 2500 BC.The oldest complete Senet boards date to theMiddle Kingdom.

Senet was played in neighbouring cultures, probably arriving there through trade links with the Egyptians.It has been found in theLevantat sites such asAradandByblos,as well as inCyprus.Because of the local practice of making games out of stone, more Senet games have survived in Cyprus than in Egypt.

Classical period

The situation in Zeno's game of tabula when he had an unlucky dice throw

Byzantine Empire

Tabula(also calledAlea,TablēorTάβλι), is the oldest identifiable tables game. It is described in anepigramofByzantineEmperor Zeno(AD 476–491).It had the typical tables board layout with 24 rectangularpoints,12 on each side. Each player had 15menand used cubicaldicewith sides numbered one to six.The object of the game was to be the first tobear offall of one's men.Modern Backgammon follows the similar rules to Tabula. The key differences being that Tabula uses an extra die (three rather than two), there is nodoubling dieor bar, and all thetablemenstart off the board. Interestingly, the rules in Backgammon for re-entering pieces from thebarare the same as those in Tabula for enteringpiecesfrom off the board, along with those for hitting a blot, and bearing off.The nameτάβληis still used for tables games in Greece, where they are frequently played in townplateiasand cafes.The epigram of Zeno describes a particularly bad dice roll the emperor had for his given position. Zeno, who was white, had astackof seven men, three stacks of two men and twoblots,men that stood alone on a point and were therefore in danger of being put outside the board by an incoming opposing man. Zeno threw the three dice with which the game was played and obtained 2, 5 and 6. The rules meant that Zeno could not move to aspaceoccupied by two opposing (black) men. The black and white tablemen were so distributed on the points that the only way to use all three results, as required by the game rules, was to break the three stacks of two men into blots, exposing them and ruining the game for Zeno.

Roman Empire

RomanLudus duodecim scriptorumboard from the 2nd century, Aphrodisias

Theτάβλιof Zeno's time is believed to be a direct descendant of the earlier RomanLudus duodecim scriptorum('Game of Twelve Lines') with the board's middle row of points removed, and only the two outer rows remaining.Duodecim scriptorumused a board with three rows of 12 points each, with the 15 men being moved in opposing directions by the two players across three rows according to the roll of the three cubical dice.Little specific text about the play ofDuodecim scriptorumhas survived;it may have been related to the olderAncient Greekdice gameKubeia.The earliest known mention of the game is inOvid'sArs Amatoria('The Art of Love'), written between 1 BC and 8 AD. In Roman times, this game was also known asAlea,and a likely apocryphal Latin story linked this name, and the game, to aTrojansoldier namedAlea.

Nard period (Middle Ages)

Middle East

Burzoedemonstrates the game ofnardto the IndianRajas

In the 11th centuryShahnameh,thePersianpoetFerdowsicreditsBorzuyawith the invention of the game ofNardin the 6th century. He describes an encounter between Borzuya and aRajavisiting fromIndia.The Raja introduces the game ofchess,and Borzuya demonstrates Nard, played with dice made fromivoryandteak.

Meanwhile, Persian tradition places the invention of nard in the 3rd or even 6th century AD. The name of the game nard is an abbreviated version of the original Persian namenardšir.The Middle-Persian text,Kār-nāmag ī Ardaxšēr ī Pāpakān,associates the invention of nard withArdashir I(r. 224–41), the founder of theSasanian dynasty,whereas in the Middle Persian narrativeWičārišn ī čatrang ud nihišn ī nēw-ardaxšēr(Explanation of Chess and the Invention of Nardshir) it isBozorgmehr Bokhtagan,the vizier ofKhosrow I(r. 531–79), who is credited with the invention of the game.

East Asia

Table game set from around the 10th century, China

Nard was popular in China for a time and was known as "shuanglu" (Song lục / song lục,shuānglù). Shuanglu came from western India to China during theWei dynastyand was a significant table game during theLiang,Chen,Sui,Tang,andQidynasties.The bookPǔ Shuāng(Phổ song) written during theSouthern Songperiod (1127–1279) recording over ten variants. Over time it was replaced by other games such asxiangqi(Chinese chess).

In Japan,ban-sugorokuis thought to have been brought from China in the 6th century, and is mentioned inGenji monogatari.As a gambling game, it was made illegal several times.In the earlyEdoera, a new and fast gambling game calledChō-hanappeared andsugorokuquickly dwindled. By the 13th century, the board gameGo,originally played only by the aristocracy, had become popular among the general public.

In Korea, a similar game exists known asSsang-ryuk.

Europe

The poetHerr Goeliplaying, from the 14th centuryCodex Manesse

InEnglish,the word "tables" is derived fromLatintabula.Its first use referring to board games documented by theOxford English Dictionarywas circa AD 700.

TheGloucester tabula set,Discovered on the site ofGloucester Castlein 1983, with itsobeliskshaped points provides a potential transitional phase between the Roman square points, and the triangular points that were common in the 13th century.

Thejeux de tables('Games of Tables') first appeared in France during the 11th century and became a favorite pastime of gamblers. In 1254,Louis IXissued a decree prohibiting his court officials and subjects from playing.Tables games were played in Germany in the 12th century, and had reachedIcelandby the 13th century. InSpain,theAlfonso XmanuscriptLibro de los juegos,completed in 1283, describes rules for a number of dice and table games in addition to its extensive discussion of chess.Tables games were played in Germany in the 12th century, and had reachedIcelandby the 13th century.

In 1254,Louis IXissued a decree prohibiting his court officials and subjects from playing dice games.

Mediaeval tables should not be confused withTafl,an unrelated class of board games (albeit linguistically related) played in medieval Scandinavia.Tâband tablan(as well as the related gamessáhkkuanddaldøs) may, on the other hand, be descendants of tabula.

Modern period

Europe

By the 17th century, table games had spread toSweden.A wooden board and counters were recovered from the wreck of theVasaamong the belongings of the ship's officers. Tables games appear widely in paintings of this period, mainly those of Dutch and German painters, such asVan Ostade,Jan Steen,Hieronymus Bosch,andBruegel.Some surviving artworks areCardsharpsbyCaravaggio(the tables board is in the lower left) andThe Triumph of DeathbyPieter Bruegel the Elder(the tables board is in the lower right). Others includeHell(Bosch)andInterior of an Innby Jan Steen.

The rise of Backgammon

A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon,byEdmond Hoyle

Main article:Backgammon

The earliest known mention of Backgammon was in a letter dated 1635 and it was a variant of the popular mediaeval Anglo-Scottish game ofIrish.By the 19th century it had superseded other tables games in popularity and spread abroad to Europe and America. The scoring rules have changed over time and a doubling cube added that enables players to raise the stakes.

Backgammon's predecessor was the tables game of Irish, which was popular at the Scottish court of James IV and considered "the more serious and solid game" when Backgammon began to emerge in the first half of the 17th century.In the 16th century,Elizabethanlaws and church regulations had prohibited playing tables in England, but by the 18th century, tables games were on the rise again and Backgammon had superseded Irish and become popular among the English clergy.Edmond HoylepublishedA Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammonin 1753; this described rules and strategy for the game and was bound together with a similar text onwhist.

In English, the word "backgammon" is most likely derived from "back" andMiddle English:gamen,meaning "game" or "play". The earliest mention of the game, which was under the name ofBaggammon,was by James Howell in a letter dated 1635.Meanwhile, the first use documented by theOxford English Dictionarywas in 1650.In 1666, it is reported that the "old name for backgammon used by Shakespeare and others" was Tables.However, it is clear from Willughby that "tables" was a generic name and that the phrase "playing at tables" was used in a similar way to "playing at cards".

The Backgammon PlayersbyTheodoor Rombouts,1634

The most recent major development in backgammon was the addition of the doubling cube. It was first introduced in the 1920s inNew York Cityamong members of gaming clubs in theLower East Side.The cube required players not only to select the best move in a given position, but also to estimate the probability of winning from that position, transforming backgammon into theexpected value-driven game played in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The popularity of backgammon surged in the mid-1960s, in part due to the charisma ofPrince Alexis Obolenskywho became known as "The Father of Modern Backgammon"."Obe", as he was called by friends, co-founded the International Backgammon Association,which published a set of official rules. He also established the World Backgammon Club of Manhattan, devised a backgammon tournament system in 1963, then organized the first major international backgammon tournament in March 1964, which attracted royalty, celebrities and the press. The game became a huge fad and was played on college campuses, indiscothèquesand at country clubs;stockbrokers and bankers began playing at conservative men's clubs.People young and old all across the country dusted off their boards and 'checkers'. Cigarette, liquor and car companies began to sponsor tournaments, andHugh Hefnerheld backgammon parties at thePlayboy Mansion.Backgammon clubs were formed and tournaments were held, resulting in a World Championship promoted inLas Vegasin 1967.

Most recently, theUnited States Backgammon Federation(USBGF) was organized in 2009 to re-popularize the game in the United States. Board and committee members include many of the top players, tournament directors and writers in the worldwide backgammon community. The USBGF has recently created aStandards of Ethical Practiceto address issues which tournament rules fail to touch.

Tables games by region

Europe

A tables board found in the shipwreck of theMary Rose(1545)

France

Trictracwas the classicFrenchtables game of the 17th and 18th centuries in the same way that backgammon that now is in the English-speaking world.There are two main forms of the game,le Grand Trictracandle Petit Trictrac.However, it is not a race game; rather the main aim is to score points.

In Trictrac, the starting point is called atalon,the points, orfleches,are numbered to 12 on both sides of the board, with the 12th point on either side called thecoin de repos,or, simply,coin.The 11th point (on either side) is often calledle case d'écolier,or 'schoolboy's point' (casemeaning 'square', literally) after the tendency of inexperienced players to rush to this point too soon in the game.Statistically, the most difficult points in the game to reach aside from thecoinsare the 8th points, and they are namedles fleches de diable,or 'the Devil'spoints', for this reason.The home boards are referred to as thejan de retourby either player. Doubles are treated as two identical numbers.

Trictrac was superseded by the much simpler game ofJacquetduring the 19th century, a race game with a number of distinctive features. First, players circulated the board in the same direction rather than in opposing directions. Second, players could not move the majority of their pieces until the first piece, the 'courier' or 'postilion', had reached the final quadrant.Jacquet was largely ousted by Anglo-American games in the 1960s, but its rules are still published and boards are still manufactured.

Tourne Caseis another old French tables game and more one of chance than skill. Using a tables board, each player only takes 3 pieces. The aim is to enter them onto the board using the throws of the dice and be first to move all 3 to the 'home corner' (coin de repos) on the 12th point of the board. The men may not pass over one another nor may there be more than one on a point except in the home corner. If a man moves to a point opposite that of an opposing man, the latter is 'hit'. It must be removed from the board and re-entered from the start.

Greece and Cyprus

Main article:Tavli

Traditional GreekTavliboard made fromRosewoodwith checkers made ofGalalith.

Tables games are popular among theGreeks.These games are calledTavli,derived inByzantinetimes from the Latin wordtabula.A game of the tables family calledTavli(Byzantine Greek:τάβλι) is described in an epigram of theByzantineEmperor Zeno(AD 476–481).The games ofTavlimost commonly played are:

• Porteshas no doubling cube, and players only win double (calleddiplo,Greek for "double" ), not triple, when a player bears off all the counters while the opponent has yet to bear off any and has still counters on the winner's home board or on the bar.
• Plakotois very similar to Mahbusa ortapa.It has some general similarities with Portes, but with a different opening layout of the pieces and blots arepinned(so they cannot move) instead of being hit.
• Fevgais similar toNardeor the Turkish variantMoultezim.It is arunning gameofparallel movement;players moving in the same direction. There is not hitting or pinning and a point is blocked to the opponent even when occupied by a single piece.

The three games are normally played consecutively, in three-, five- or seven-point matches.Before starting a match, each player rolls 1 die, and the player with the highest roll picks up both dice and re-rolls (i.e. it is possible to roll doubles for the opening move). Players use the same pair of dice in turns. After the first game, the winner of the previous game starts first. Each game counts as 1 point, if the opponent has borne off at least 1 stone, otherwise 2 points. There is no doubling cube. Tavli is considered the national board game of Cyprus and Greece.

Other Greek tables games include:

• GulorMultezimis Fevga with the feature that, on a double, one has to play all doubles subsequently till the 6–6. If a dice throw cannot be fulfilled in any way, his opponent takes the turn for the remaining moves of that throw.
• Asodiois a game where all pieces are off the board at the outset and players enter either by rolling doubles or an Ace-Deuce combination.
• Sfaktesmeans "slayers".
• Evraiko(Jewish), a much simpler game depending entirely on luck with no room for skill.

Romania

InRomania,tablă(meaning "board", cognate of the Latintabula) has two variations: there is no doubling cube and a backgammon counts only as a gammon (calledmarț). Matches are usually played to three points.

Sweden

Tables board with counters recovered from the Swedish 17th century warshipVasa.

Brädeorsvenskt brädspel( "Swedish Tables" ) is an elaborate version of the historical gameverquerethat is played inSweden.Players start with all 15 of their counters on opposite corners of the board, and play around counter-clockwise. Besides bearing off, there are several other ways to win, such as arranging all of one's counters in certain pre-determined patterns, or by hitting so many counters that one's opponent can not bring them in again. Additional points are awarded for a victory while one's opponent has counters on the bar. Brädspel is played without the doubling cube.Interest in brädspel experienced a resurgence following the recovery of a 17th-century board from the wreck of theVasa.

Far East

There are two games known assugoroku( song sáu ) inJapan.One more closely resemblesSnakes and Ladders,while the other is played on a 24-point tables board, using standard tables equipment. The starting position is identical to that ofbackgammon,however it differs from most other tables variants in that the pieces are never borne off. Additionally, the use of primes is not permitted.

Middle East and Central Asia

Tables games are played widely in theMiddle EastandCentral Asia.The most popular is known asTawlahinArabic(meaning "table" ). This may represent a shared name origin with theRomanorByzantinetables games. The game is calledTakhte NardinIran.InIsraeland many Arabic-speaking countries, it is known asShesh Besh(pronounced Sheesh Beesh in Arabic), which is a rhyming combinationshesh,meaning six inHebrew,AramaicandNorthwest Semitic,andbesh,meaning five inTurkish). It is also played by some Kurdish, Persian and Turkish speakers.Shesh beshis commonly used to refer to when a player scores a 5 and 6 at the same time on dice.

The nameNardshircomes from thePersiannard(Wooden block) andshir(lion) referring to the two type of pieces used in play. A common legend associates the game with the founder of theSassanian dynasty,Ardashir I.The oldest known reference to the game is thought to be a passage in theTalmud.

Mahbusameans "imprisoned". Each player begins with 15 counters on his opponent's 24-point. If a counter is hit, it is not placed on the bar, but instead, the hitting piece is placed on top, and the point is then controlled by the hitting player. The counter which has been hit is 'imprisoned' and cannot be moved until the opponent removes his piece. Sometimes, a rule is used that requires a player to bring his first counter around to his home board before moving any others. In any case, a rapid advance to one's own home board is desirable, as imprisoning the opponent's counter there is highly advantageous. Mahbusa is similar totapa.

Tawla 31(meaning table 31) orMaghribiyya(meaning "Moroccan" ). Similar toMahbusa,each player begins with 15 counters on the opponent's 24-point. However, this game involves neither hitting not pinning. Instead, one or more pieces on a point act as ablock.Moreover, a player must initially advance only one counter to the opponent's 'home board' before being able to move additional pieces.Tawla 31orMaghribiyyais similar toFevga.

Many of the earlyArabictexts which refer to the game comment on the debate regarding the legality and morality of playing the game. This debate was settled by the eighth century when all fourMuslimschools of jurisprudence declared the game to beHaraam(forbidden), however the game is still played today in many Arab countries.

In the modern Middle East, tables games are a common feature ofcoffeehouses.Today they continue to be commonly played in various forms in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and throughout the Arab world.

A feature of tables play in some Arab countries is thatPersiannumbers, rather than Arabic ones, are called out by a player announcing hisdicerolls.

Armenia

Nardi(Armenian:նարդի) is very popular amongArmenians.The word is derived from Persian wordnard(Persian:نرد). There are two games of Nardi commonly played:

Short Nardi:the local name for Backgammon; same setup and rules.

Long Nardi:A game that starts with all fifteen pieces are placed in a line on the 24-point and on the 11-point. The two players move their pieces in parallel directions, from the 24-point towards the 1-point, or home board. In Long Nardi, one piece by itself can block a point. There is no hitting in Long Nardi. The objective of the game is bearing all pieces off the board, and there is no doubling cube.

Iran

Main article:Nard

PersianNardBoard made in theKhatammarquetry technique.

Nardis the name for the Persian tables game.H. J. R. Murray details many versions of tables games; his description of modern PersianNardhas the same layout and scheme of movement as backgammon. He suggests that it may date back, perhaps in an older form, to 300–500 AD in the Babylonian Talmud,although others believe the Talmud references the Greek race gameKubeia.

People in theIranian plateauandCaucasusregion, especially inAzerbaijan,Iran,Armenia,Georgia,UzbekistanandRussia,are very fond of playingnarde.All 15 of a player's counters are initially positioned on his own 24-point, but there is a major difference. One is forbidden to put his counter at a point occupied by one's opponent's counter, so there is no hitting or imprisonment in the long narde game. The main strategy is to secure playing "big pairs" by one's own counter and prevent as much as possible doing the same by the opponent.

The game is known as 'Fevga' in Greece, 'Moultezim' in Turkey, Mahbusa in the Middle East and 'Ifranjiah' orFrankishin Arabia. It can also be spelt as 'Nard' or 'Nardi'.

A version known asshort nardeis a simplified form of Ifranjiah. In Georgia, ifranjiah is played as elsewhere, but called "nardi". In Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia many experienced players also playlong narde,which some see as requiring deeper strategy.

One of the most famous narde championships is the championship of Azerbaijan – Gizil Zar – Golden Dawn. The winner is awarded with gold dice.

Gul bara,sometimes referred to as "Rosespring Backgammon"or"Crazy Narde",is a tables game in which there is no hitting.

Turkey

Women playingtavlainTurkey.

Main article:Tawula

Tavla(fromMedieval Greekτάβληor fromArabic"tawleh" ), is a very popular game in Turkey. It lacks a doubling cube, gammons and backgammons are counted as two points calledmarsand the players may not hit and run in their home boards.Matches are usually played to five points. It is customary to call the dice rolls theirPersiannumber names, with local spellings:yek(1),dü(2),se(3),cehar(4),penç(5), andşeş(6).

There are many variants of Tavla in Turkey, where the course of play changes drastically. The usual tavla is also known aserkek tavlası( "boys' tavla" or "men's tavla" ). The other variantkız tavlası( "girls' tavla" ) is a game which depends only on the dice and involves no strategy. There is another variant calledasker tavlası( "soldiers' tavla" ) where the pieces are thrown to the board randomly and the opponents try to flip their pieces over the opponents' pieces to beat them. The player with no pieces left loses the game. This variant doesn't involve dice at all and the play depends more on hand-eye coordination than tactical decision making.Üniversite tavlası( "university tavla" ) is a variant of the game played with two or more tavlas and four or more players, with the players forming groups. The dice are thrown only by two opposing players and the rest must play the same dice. If a team member gets beaten and cannot enter, his teammates cannot play for that round. Although the dice are the same, the game on every board differs, where the case of one team member winning and another losing is very common. This variant is considered much harder because the player must take more than one play into account while only being capable of making decisions on his own board.

Hapis(Turkish for "prison" ) is another tables game played in Turkey. It is very similar to Mahbusa played in theArab World.

Historical tables games

Seis, dos, y asfrom the 13th centuryLibro de los juegos

Many of the ancestors of modern tables games are no longer widely played.

13th century Spanish games

• Games described in the royal book of games,Libro de los Juegos:
  • Quinze Tablas (Fifteen Pieces)
  • Doce Canes or Doce Hermanos (Twelve Dogs or Twelve Brothers)
  • Doblet(Doublet), related to the English game of Doublets
  • Fallas (Drop Dead), related to the English game of Fayles
  • Seys Does e As (Six, Two and Ace), related to the English game of Six-Ace
  • Emperador(Emperor)
  • Medio-Emperador(Half Emperor)
  • Paireia de Entrada (Paired Entry)
  • Cab e Quinal (Alongside Fives)
  • Todas Tablas(All Pieces), related to the Anglo-Scottish game ofIrish
  • Laquet,related to the French game ofJacquet
  • Buffa Cortesa (Courtly Puff), related to the German game of Puff
  • Buffa de Baldrac (Common Puff)
  • Rencontrat

16th and 17th century English games

• Games described by Willughby (1672):
  • Dublets
  • Ticktack
  • Irish,16th and 17th century British game; directly ancestral to Backgammon.
  • Early Backgammon
• Additional games described by Cotton (1674):
  • Sice-Ace
  • Catch-Dolt (Ketch-Dolt)
• Additional games described by Seymour (1754):
  • Verquere
  • Grand Trick Track, related to FrenchTrictrac
• Additional games described by Murray (1941):
  • Queens Game
  • Fails (or Fayles)
  • Lurch

See also

• Mancala('sowing' or seed games)

Literature

• Bell, R.C.(1979)Board And Table Games From Many Civilizations(revised edition with two volumes dated 1960 and 1969 bound into a single book) – Dover Publications,Mineola, New York,1979.ISBN0-486-23855-5;reprinted by Exeter Books, New York City, 1983.ISBN0-486-23855-5
• Fallavel J.M. (1715).Le Jeu du trictrac, Enrichi De Figures Avec les Jeux du Revertier, du Toute-Table, du Tourne-Case, de Dames Rabattues, du Plain et du Toc.3rd edn. Paris: Henry Charpentier.
• Murray, H. J. R.(1952).A History of Board-Games other than Chess.1st pub. 1952,Oxford University Press,reissued by Hacker Art Books (1978),ISBN0-87817-211-4
• Finkel, Irving(2007)."On the Rules for the Royal Game of Ur"inAncient Board Games in Perspectiveed. Irving Finkel. London: British Museum. pp. 16–32.
• Fiske, Willard(1905).Chess in Iceland and Icelandic Literature: with historical notes on other table-games.Florence: Florentine Typographical Society.
• Parlett, David(1999)."The Tables Turned: Backgammon from Ur to Us" inThe Oxford History of Board Games.Oxford: OUP, pp. 58–87.ISBN9780192129987

External links

• Variants at Backgammon Galore
• Fevga or Moultezim or Tawla 31- rules.
• Plakoto(Mahbooseh)- rules.