What is Tavla?
Tavla is the Turkish name for backgammon and for the way it is played in Turkey. The board, the starting position, the moves and hitting are all those of standard backgammon. The differences are in the scoring.
Tavla has no doubling cube, so every game is worth a fixed amount. A player who bears off all fifteen checkers before the opponent has borne off any wins a mars, worth two points; any other win is worth one point. There is no triple win: the backgammon of the standard game does not exist in Tavla.
Without the cube the game is played for each point rather than for stakes, and it is usually played as a short match, game after game, at a fast pace.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Backgammon | Tavla |
|---|---|---|
| Starting position and moves | Standard BackgammonFifteen checkers each: two on your 24-point, five on your 13-point, three on your 8-point and five on your 6-point. Blots can be hit. | TavlaThe same setup, moves, hitting and bearing off. |
| Doubling cube | Standard BackgammonCan be turned on in the table setup. | TavlaNot used. |
| Scoring | Standard BackgammonOne point for a win, two for a gammon (the loser has borne off no checkers) and three for a backgammon (the loser also still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board). | TavlaOne point for a win and two for a mars (the loser has borne off no checkers). There are no three-point wins. |
History
Tavla comes from the same family of tables games as backgammon, which spread across the Middle East and the Mediterranean over many centuries. In Turkey it is a fixture of coffee houses and family gatherings, and it is usually played quickly, with the dice thrown and the checkers moved in a few seconds.
Turkish players traditionally call out the numbers on the dice with Persian words, such as yek for one and şeş for six, so a roll of 6-5 is şeş-beş, a name that is also used for the game itself in parts of the Middle East. The doubling cube, invented in New York in the 1920s, never became part of the Turkish game.