Tavli is played by two players with 15 checkers each on a 24-point board. Every turn two dice are rolled and each die is a separate move; doubles are played four times. The first player to bear off all 15 checkers wins: a single win scores 1 point, a diplia (the loser bore off nothing) scores 2. Below are the two classic variants, Portes and Plakoto.
Play now — it's freeIn Portes the checkers start as in international backgammon: 2 on the 24-point, 5 on the 13-point, 3 on the 8-point and 5 on the 6-point, mirrored by the opponent. In Plakoto all 15 checkers start on a single point — the opponent's one-point — so your "mother" is the last checker left there.
The object in both games is to move all your checkers around into your home board and bear them off. White moves from 24 toward 1 and bears off from points 1–6; black moves the opposite way.
Each die moves one checker that many points, and both dice may be used by the same checker if the intermediate point is open. Doubles are played twice over — four moves of that number.
You must play as many moves as possible, and if only one die fits you must play the higher one. If nothing fits, the turn passes.
| Point state | May you land? | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| No opposing checkers | Yes | Open point |
| 1 opposing checker (Portes) | Yes — a hit | The checker goes to the bar |
| 1 opposing checker (Plakoto) | Yes — a pin | The checker is trapped underneath |
| 2+ opposing checkers | No | Blocked point, also for mid-move touch-downs |
Landing on a lone opposing checker (a blot) hits it to the bar; from the bar it must re-enter your home board before anything else may move.
Three Greek twists separate Portes from international backgammon: the winner of the opening roll re-rolls both dice for the first turn (so first-turn doubles are possible), hit-and-run is forbidden inside your own home board within the same turn, and there is no doubling cube at all.
There is no hitting in Plakoto. Landing on a lone enemy checker pins it: it stays put, unable to move while you keep a checker on top. Every pinned point is also a block for the opponent — they can neither land nor touch down there.
The "mother" is the last checker remaining on your starting point. If the opponent pins her after clearing their own starting point, you lose immediately by 2 points. If they still have checkers on their own start, the pin does not win and play continues. If both mothers are pinned at once, the game is a draw.
Once all 15 of your checkers are in your home board you may bear off: a die of 3 removes a checker from the 3-point. If that point is empty you must move a checker from a higher point; if the dice are larger than the distance of your farthest checker, that checker comes off.
Each game awards points as follows:
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Loser has borne off at least one checker | 1 |
| Diplia: loser has borne off none | 2 |
| Plakoto: the mother is pinned | 2 |
| Plakoto: both mothers pinned | Draw — no points |
There is no backgammon triple: even a loser with a checker on the bar or inside your home board loses only the 2 points of a diplia, never 3.
No. Neither Portes nor Plakoto uses a doubling cube — games are worth 1 or 2 points (diplia), never more.
A diplia is a win in which the loser has not borne off a single checker. It scores 2 points instead of 1.
No. Greek Tavli has no triple win — the maximum score for a single game is 2 points.
The mother is the last checker left on the starting point where all 15 began. If the opponent pins her (after clearing their own starting point) the game ends immediately, worth 2 points. If both mothers end up pinned, the game is a draw.
Not inside your own home board: if you hit a blot there, the hitting checker must stay put for the rest of the turn. Elsewhere on the board hit-and-run is allowed.
Doubles are played four times — a roll of 5-5 gives four moves of five points. On the very first turn of Portes doubles are possible because the winner of the opening roll re-rolls two dice.
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