Gul Bara Backgammon Variant (aka Crazy Narde or Rosespring)

Gul Bara is a Middle Eastern Backgammon variant, also known as Rosespring Backgammon or Crazy Narde, which is also extremely well-loved in Bulgaria.

What makes Gul Bara unique when compared to other Backgammon variants is that hitting does not take place in this particular game. A single checker on a point marks the control of that point so that your opponent can not put any of his checkers on it.

Doubles in Gul Bara are also unique in that they are especially effective. Rolling doubles in Gul Bara means rolling just like you would in the game of Backgammon for the first 3 rolls. Each number is actually used 2 times. In the following doubles rolls you play each number you rolled 4 times and every subsequent number 4 times as well. In case at a certain point you can not play the 4 numbers, you lose the rest of your turn. It is easy to play doubles in the initial stages of the game, but it becomes increasingly difficult as the game continues.

The bear off technique in Gul Bara can begin when you have brought every one of your 15 checkers into your home board. You can bear off any checker by rolling the matching number of the point where it stands, then take that checker off the board. If the point you rolled is empty of checkers, you have to make a move with a checker that stands on a point with a higher number. If those points are empty too, you have to take a checker from the highest point. If you bear off every one of your checkers, you receive 1 point and win the game. If you manage to do so before your opponent bears off any of his, then you win and receive 2 points.

David Carnegy - Managing Editor