Turkish Tavli for Backgammon Fans

admin · Site Admin Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 831

If you're an online backgammon fan, you may be interested to know that several different varieties of your favorite game can now be found at skill gaming sites. One of these which is quickly gaining popularity amongst backgammon fans is online Tavli.

This version of backgammon is almost identical to the commonly played version but offers fans an extra challenge. Players face off with just two checkers on the board instead of the full fifteen. They must bring all their checkers onto the board by throwing the two die before they are able to move their first two checkers.

Similarly, when a player needs to re-enter his checker from the bar after it has been hit by his opponent, he is not able to put more than one of his checkers on a point on his opponent's area of the board. He must play all his checkers back into the game from the bar before he can move any of those on the board. If he cannot play all his checkers in with one turn, he must give up and try again in the next turn. As you can see, this rule which deviates from common backgammon rules, makes entering checkers far more tricky than in regular backgammon online.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why skill gaming sites that offer Tavla are fast attracting the crowds. Backgammon fans that want to challenge their existing skills even further would do well to try this exciting version of the game. Indeed, the game of Tawula has been played in Turkey for centuries. It is estimated that a higher percentage of people in Turkey know how to play Tawula than people in Europe and the United States know how to play backgammon.

Along with the challenges of reintroducing checkers into a game, online Tavla generally moves at a faster pace than a game of standard backgammon. It does not use a doubling cube so is rarely gambled upon. If you are travelling in a country where the game is played, you will mostly likely see the board resting on a player's knees rather than on a backgammon table. Similarly, the two die may be of a somewhat different appearance than that which you are accustomed to. The dot representing the number one is larger than the others and are red, while other dots may be black.

However, despite a few differences the aim of the game remains the same. Two opponents will face each other across a board and will try to be the first to enter all of their fifteen checkers onto the board, moving them to their home board area. Once all checkers are here, they must be removed from the board. This is known as "bearing off." Two die must be thrown each time a player takes his turn. The pip count on the die must be used to move the checkers the corresponding number of spaces on the board and then off. The first player to remove all fifteen checkers from the board in this way wins the game.