Takhteh Backgammon Variant (aka Tavla)

Takhteh, a Backgammon variant played very much like regular Backgammon, is also named Tavla in Turkey. In fact, Takhteh actually means Backgammon in Persian.

How does Takhteh differ from regular Backgammon?

1. The player that wins the opening roll rolls again for his initial turn.
2. Hitting and rushing off of a participant's home table is unacceptable.
3. You can not waste pips unless you absolutely have to when you bear off,
4. The winning player gets a single point for a regular win and 2 points for a gammon, while backgammons are not used in this variant.
5. Doubling cubes do not exist in Takhteh.

As in regular Backgammon, every player begins with 3 checkers on his point 8 and 5 checkers on his point 6. Then on the opponent's side he places 2 checkers on his point 1 and 5 checkers on his point 12.

As with most Backgammon variants, the object of the game is to get every one of your checkers to move all the way around the board and bear the checkers off.

In order to begin playing Takhteh, each of the participants roll a die and the one with the higher number gets to play first. Following the initial game, the winner 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 Takhteh:

1. A checker can only be placed on a point that isn't held by at least 2 of the opponent's checkers.
2. There are 2 dice in Takhteh and the numbers on each of them signify 2 independent moves.
3. Doubles have to be played 2 times.
4. 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.

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.

You are not permitted to rush off once you've hit your opponent's blot in your home table. Any time you make a hit in your home table, you have to cover the checker that's making the hit by means of your other checkers or you can leave it open.

In this Backgammon variant, 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 possibly can and forsake the rest of your turn.

When every one of your 15 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.

You can not waste pips unless you absolutely have to when you bear off, meaning that between bearing off and moving a checker up, in this Backgammon variant, bearing off is the preferable choice.

When a checker gets hit in the midst of the bear off, then it has to be brought into your starting board again in order to complete the course of the entire board once more before bearing off.

Furthermore, if you bear off every one of your 15 checkers before your opponent, you win the Takhteh Backgammon game. If you manage to do so before your opponent has been able to bear off any of his checkers, he loses 2 points. In the case that he manages to bear off 1 checker or more, than he loses a single point.

David Carnegy - Managing Editor