Tavla - Turkish Backgammon

The Turkish backgammon game is called "Tavla". It shares many similarities with the standard backgammon game but there are some variants to the rules. The most notable difference between Turkish Tavla and Western backgammon is the nonappearance of the doubling cube. 

Tavla and backgammon board set up are identical. Same goes for the direction of the checkers movement. 

The object of Tavla is the same as in backgammon, i.e. the player's goal is to move his entire checkers into his home board and then bear them off before his opponent does. 

Tavla begins with each player rolls a single die. The player whose outcome is the highest opens the game. Unlike in backgammon, the player who wins the opening roll has to roll again to play the first turn. 

As in backgammon, the movement of checkers is conduced by the roll of the dice. The Tavla player must move his checkers only to an open point. The Tavla player is entitled to choose between moving one checker the sum of points appear on the dice and moving two checkers to separate directions corresponding with the roll of the dice. Similar to backgammon, doubles are played twice in Tavla. Additionally, the players must use the two numbers shown on the dice (or all four numbers, when the dice rolls doubles). 

Hitting and entering rules in Tavla are identical to those applied in regular backgammon: 

Tavla players can hit the opponents' blot (an isolated checker on a point) and place it on the bar. The Tavla player is not allowed run for cover after hitting the opponent' blot in their home board. In that case, the only choice is to cover the hitting checker with another checker. Another option is leave it there exposed. 

Tavla players are obliged to enter any checker (or checkers) that resides on the bar to the opponent's home board. To enter a checker, the player has to move it to an open point parallel to the number shown on the dice. 

Bearing off begins as soon as a player is done moving his entire checkers to his home board. To bear off, a player has to roll the number parallel to the point where the checker is placed, and then remove it off the board. 

Bearing off rules are the same as in backgammon, with one exception. In Tavla, a player is unable to waste pips when bearing off. In other words, the Tavla players cannot use a smaller number when bearing off in order to move the checker forward. Moreover, if a checker is hit in bearoff, the checker has to be re-entered and put back to the player's finishing table right before he will continue bearing off. 

The winner in Tavla is the first player who bears off all of his fifteen checkers. Since the doubling cube is not in use, the scoring is different: when the losing player has borne off one checker or more, he loses one point; when he has not borne off any checkers, he loses two points.