Portes Backgammon Variant
Portes is part of the Greek Backgammon variant trio, called Tavli, which also includes Fevga and Plakoto. Generally, these Backgammon games are played in succession in 3, 5, or 7 point matches. Portes is very much like its Western variant, aside from the following differences from regular Backgammon:- The player that wins the opening roll rolls again for his initial turn.
- The Portes winner gets a single point for a regular win and 2 points when there is a gammon. Meanwhile, there are no backgammons in Portes.
- No doubling cube exists in Portes.
- A checker can only be placed on a point that isn't held by any of the opponent's checkers.
- There are 2 dice in Portes and the numbers on each of them signify 2 independent moves.
- Doubles have to be played 2 times.
- A player has to use both of the numbers that come up on a dice roll whenever it is possible, and all 4 numbers if doubles are rolled. In the case that you can only play 1 number, you have to play the higher number.
- Doubling does not exist in Portes.
Just as in regular Backgammon, every player has 2 checkers on his opponent's 1 point, 5 on his 12 point, 3 on his own 8 point, and 5 on his 6 point. In addition, the goal in this Backgammon variant is to get every one of your checkers to encircle the entire board and bear them off.
In order to begin playing Portes, each of the participants roll a die and the one with the higher number gets to play first. Next, the winner of the opening roll rolls both of the dice once more to begin his initial turn. Following the first game of Portes, the victor of the preceding game plays first.
Players need to move their checkers in accordance with the points that correspond to the numbers that come up when they roll the dice. These are the rules of checker movement in Portes:
A blot is a single checker that occupies a point. If your opponent's checker winds up on your blot, your blot gets hit and is put on the bar. Whenever you have at least 1 checker on the bar, your number 1 priority should be to get those checkers in your opponent's home board. The way to do this includes moving a checker to an available point that matches 1 of the numbers you've rolled. In the case that you succeed in bringing some, but not every one of your checkers, then you have to bring in as many as you possible can and forsake the rest of your turn.
When every one of your checkers is in your home board, you can start to bear off. In order to bear off, you need to roll a number that matches the point that checker stands on and then take that checker off the Backgammon board. In the case that no checker stands on the point signified by the roll, you must make a move with a checker on a higher point. If the same goes for the higher points, then you have to take a checker off of the highest point with a checker.
The winner of a Portes game is the first one to bear off every one of his checkers. In the case that the loser bears off at least one of his checkers, he loses just 1 point. In any other case, he loses 2 points.
David Carnegy - Managing Editor
