Tavli

Tavli

Genres	Board game,race game,tables game,dice game
Players	2
Movement	Portes and Plakoto:contrary;Fevga:parallel
Chance	Medium (dicerolling)
Skills	Strategy,tactics,counting,probability
Compendium game of the tables family

Tavli(Greek: Τάβλι), sometimes calledGreek backgammonin English,is the most popular way of playingtables gamesinGreeceandCyprusand is their national board game.Tavli is acompendium gamefor two players which comprises three different variants played in succession: Portes,PlakotoandFevga.These are played in a cycle until one player reaches the target score - usually five or seven points.

Description

Traditional Greek Tavli board made fromRosewoodwith checkers made ofGalalith.

Tables gamesare an ancient family ofrace games,the best known modern example of which isbackgammon.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 15menorpieces.

Portes

Portes is the game that resembles backgammon most closely. It is ahitting gamein which the players mayhitenemyblotsoff the board.The starting layout and rules are as for backgammon except that:

• The player who leads re-rolls bothdiceto start the game. Thus adoubletis 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 nodoubling cube.

Tavli board with slots on the sides to store the checkers after playing. This type of board is considered newer or not traditional by Tavli purists.

Plakoto

Main article:Plakoto

Plakoto is the second game in the sequence. It is apinning gamein which hitting is not permitted.Key features include:

• Players may pin a single opposingmanin place by covering it with one of their own men, preventing the pinnedpiecefrom moving until the covering man is released.
• Two or more pieces of the same side or a piece pinning an opposing man creates ablockfor the opponent.
• Players start with all 15 men on point 24.
• The last piece left on the starting point is themother.If she is pinned before moving off, the game is over and the pinning player wins double.
• There is no doubling cube.

Tavli is as much a social activity as it is a game.

Fevga

Main article:Fevga

Fevga is the third game in the series. It is arunning gamein which neither hitting nor pinning are permitted.Thus single man 'makes thepoint'.It is a game ofparallel movement,both players moving in an anticlockwise direction.

Other key features:

• 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

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

• Fevgarules at Backgammon Galore.
• Plakotorules at Backgammon Galore.
• Portesrules at Backgammon Galore.
• Tavli, Game of the Greeks- rules
• Tavli - Greece's national board game- highlights differences between Tavli and 'western style' Backgammon.