Turkish Backgammon

[Kris]

Does anyone know of Tavla, a Turkish version of backgammon? If so
do you know how the rules differ at all from regular backgammon?

thanks kris

[Lars Soezueer]

Dear Kris,

as far as I know, the only differences are:
1. There is no doubling cube
2. There is no backgammon, i.e. a game that counts 3 points in
international rules counts only 2 points (like gammon, turkish mars)
3. The player who wins the opening roll with one die
will not use the resulting roll,
but he/she makes the first roll then.
Thus it is possible to have doubles as first rolls.

Yours,
sencay
--
Lars S"oz"uer |Tel.: +49-9131-209437 private |On FIBS: sencay
Am F"arberhof 6 | -85-7066 office |(pronounced Shendzhay)
D-91052 Erlangen |FAX: -15249 |WBF_code_SOLAR
Germany |e-mail: Lars.S...@physik.uni-erlangen.de

[Lars Soezueer]

I forgot another slight difference:
4. In a match (typically 5 point) there is an initial roll
only in the first game. For the subsequent games, the winner
of the preceding game makes the first roll.

[ucc...@sunmail.lrz-muenchen.de]

I've played quite a lot both with Persians and Turks, and the game they
play is not so different from "Western" style backgammon. The main
differences are:
* There is no cube.
* There is no backgammon, so that a game never gives you more than
two points.
* At the beginning, both players roll a die, and the player with the
higher roll starts the game with a new roll, i.e. it is possible to begin
with a double. After the first game, the winner of the last game gets the
first roll.
Besides, I would hesitate to call it a turkish "version" of the game,
considering the fact that backgammon has its origins in the Middle East.

[I. Menguc TANRISEVEN]

Kris wrote:
>
> Does anyone know of Tavla, a Turkish version of backgammon? If so
> do you know how the rules differ at all from regular backgammon?
>
> thanks kris

Turkish backgammon, tavla, is simply the regular backgammon without
doubling cube. However, some Turks play backgammon with doubling cube
which they call "vidolu tavla" (backgammon with vido). But, usually they
play without doubling and strict 5 games matches. You can't see 7 ptrs
or 3 ptrs in Turkey, not a usual practice i mean.
hope this helps,
menguc

[I. Menguc TANRISEVEN]

[Unknown]

In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.970228143859.526A-100000@sun5>, ucc...@sunmail.lrz-muenchen.de says:

>I've played quite a lot both with Persians and Turks, and the game they
>play is not so different from "Western" style backgammon. The main
>differences are:
>* There is no cube.
>* There is no backgammon, so that a game never gives you more than
>two points.
>* At the beginning, both players roll a die, and the player with the
>higher roll starts the game with a new roll, i.e. it is possible to begin
>with a double. After the first game, the winner of the last game gets the
>first roll.
>Besides, I would hesitate to call it a turkish "version" of the game,
>considering the fact that backgammon has its origins in the Middle East.
>
>

Don't forget those tiny white dice so you can spin the hell out of them!
Also, use a wooden board with wooden checkers so you can make a lot of
noise when you get a shitty roll. If you need double ones, call "hep yak"
(spelling?) before you roll. Could someone post all the other double rolls
in Turkish(?) - it's been a while since I played a Turkish co-worker who
taught me those. Thanks! Gomotas!

RV (first time poster, long time reader)

[Lars Soezueer]

RV wrote:
> If you need double ones, call "hep yak"
> (spelling?) before you roll.
> Could someone post all the other double rolls
> in Turkish(?) - it's been a while since I played
> a Turkish co-worker who
> taught me those. Thanks! Gomotas!

Turkish players use names for all rolls that are derived from the
Persian language:
roll Turkish spelling (AFAIK) 'English' transcription
1-1 hep yek hep yak
1-2 [I don't remember]
1-3 seyek sayyak
1-4 cihar"uyek dzheehary-yak
1-5 penc, yek pentsh yak
1-6 s,es,"uyek sheshy-yek
2-2 dubara doobaara
2-3 sebad"u saybaady
2-4 cihard"u dzheehaardy
2-5 penc, d"u pentsh dy
2-6 s,es,"ud"u sheshydy
3-3 d"use dysay
3-4 cihar"use dzheehaarysay
3-5 penc"use pendzhysay
3-6 s,es,"use sheshysay
4-4 d"ort cihar dirt dzheehaar
4-5 penc, cihar pentsh dzheehaar
4-6 s,es, cihar shesh dzheehaar
5-5 d"ubes, dybesh
5-6 s,es,bes, sheshbesh
6-6 d"us,es, dushesh

Yours,

[Michael Baumgartner]

On 4 Mar 1997, it was written:

> In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.970228143859.526A-100000@sun5>, ucc...@sunmail.lrz-muenchen.de says:
> >
> >On Thu, 27 Feb 1997, Kris wrote:
> >
> >> Does anyone know of Tavla, a Turkish version of backgammon? If so
> >> do you know how the rules differ at all from regular backgammon?
> >>
> >> thanks kris
> >>
> >>
> >I've played quite a lot both with Persians and Turks, and the game they
> >play is not so different from "Western" style backgammon. The main
> >differences are:
> >* There is no cube.
> >* There is no backgammon, so that a game never gives you more than
> >two points.
> >* At the beginning, both players roll a die, and the player with the
> >higher roll starts the game with a new roll, i.e. it is possible to begin
> >with a double. After the first game, the winner of the last game gets the
> >first roll.
> >Besides, I would hesitate to call it a turkish "version" of the game,
> >considering the fact that backgammon has its origins in the Middle East.
> >
> >
>
> Don't forget those tiny white dice so you can spin the hell out of them!
> Also, use a wooden board with wooden checkers so you can make a lot of

> noise when you get a shitty roll. If you need double ones, call "hep yak"

> (spelling?) before you roll. Could someone post all the other double rolls
> in Turkish(?) - it's been a while since I played a Turkish co-worker who
> taught me those. Thanks! Gomotas!
>

> RV (first time poster, long time reader)
>
>

Thanks for the addition. There's one more thing we forgot to mention: on
those wooden boards all the points are the same colour. Makes it bloody
difficult to count, if you're used to a "western" board.

Michael