How to play Greek Tavli: Portes, Plakoto and Fevga

The board, the checkers and the goal

Tavli is the Greek name for games played on a backgammon board. Here you can play Portes, Plakoto and Fevga. They share a board of twenty-four triangular points, fifteen checkers per player and two dice. Their starting positions and the ways they block an opponent are different.

Each group of six points is a quadrant. Your final quadrant is your home board. Bring all your remaining checkers home, then remove them according to the dice. This is bearing off. The first player to remove all fifteen wins, unless Plakoto ends earlier through its mother rule.

The point numbers measure distance from a player's finish: their own 1-point is nearest, their own 24-point farthest. Our illustrations keep White's numbers fixed so the examples can be followed without renumbering the board. Each guide marks both players' routes and homes.

Which game should you learn?

Portes: hit exposed checkers

Start with checkers spread over four points. The players move in opposite directions. Two opposing checkers close a point; one can be hit onto the bar. Checkers on the bar must re-enter first. If you know international backgammon, begin here, but check the different opening roll and scoring.

Plakoto: hold a checker in place

Start with all fifteen checkers together. The players move in opposite directions. Landing on a lone opponent pins it under your checker. Protect the last checker at your start, called the mother: its capture can decide the game.

Fevga: race and block

Start from diagonally opposite corners and travel in the same direction. One opposing checker closes a point. Only your first checker may move until it passes the opponent's start. There are special limits on six-point blocks.

Who starts?

For the first game, each player rolls one die. Ties are rerolled. The higher roller starts by rolling two fresh dice; the opening contest is not the first playable roll. In a continuing match, the winner of the previous game starts the next. Here, a drawn game and a new rematch both lead to a fresh opening contest.

How to use the dice

A roll of 5 and 1 gives one five-point move and one one-point move. You may move two checkers or move the same checker twice. In the latter case, both the intermediate point and the final point must be legal. You cannot jump a blocked landing by treating the dice as a single six.

• Use both dice when possible. Look at both orders. You cannot choose a move that wastes a die if another legal sequence uses both.
• If only one die can be used, use the higher one when either value is individually playable. If only the lower value is legal, use that one.
• Doubles give four moves. A 3–3 provides four threes. Play all four if possible, otherwise the greatest number the position allows.
• Pass only when no move is legal. A bad-looking move is still compulsory if it is the only legal one.

Finish a game or play a full Trio

Once all checkers still on the board are home, an exact die can bear off from its matching point. A die larger than the distance may remove only from your farthest occupied point. Pinned checkers and checkers on the bar need special attention; the individual guides explain those cases.

A win by bearing off earns one point if the opponent has already removed a checker, or two if they have removed none. The two-point win is called mars. There is no doubling cube or three-point win.

Choosing Portes, Plakoto or Fevga starts one game. Trio starts one of each, in that order. Here all three games are played and their points added together. The score after Fevga decides the match, including a draw if the totals are equal. This is this site's match format; other tables may play to an agreed point target.

Your first turn on this site

1. Choose a game and an opponent: online matchmaking, a friend with an invitation link, or two people sharing one device. The computer plays Portes.
2. When it is your turn, roll. Select a checker and then a legal destination. Optional highlights show available points.
3. You can move a checker several dice at once by selecting a reachable destination. Each intermediate move must still be legal. If routes have different outcomes, choose the route you intend.
4. Undo any draft moves you want to change. Confirm when the full turn is ready. If no move is possible, pass. Optional automatic pass and forced-move settings start switched off.

Online turns last 45 seconds by default. A disconnection pauses the turn clock for a 75-second reconnect period. Running out of turn time, resigning or failing to return in time forfeits the whole match. Two people sharing one device have no turn clock.

After a completed match, open its review to replay turns and try legal alternatives. Keep notes in a private study if you want to revisit a position. For how rolls are produced, read How the dice work.