Tavli
Tavli is the Greek version of the common backgammon game. The word "tavli" means "board" in the Greek language.
The game is composed from three different games that are played on the regular backgammon board.
The three games are:
- Portes: Very similar to regular backgammon.
- Plakoto: In which on checker can trap another one on the same point.
- Fevga: In which one checker can block a point by itself.
A regular match is composed of the three games, played one after another.
There are similar rules in all of those three games.
In all three games, there is only one pair of dice that is used. This pair is shared between the two players. No doubling cube is being used in this game. In the start of each of the games, the player who plays first is decided by rolling the dice. The winner of the game plays first on the next game.
Each player must wait for the other player to finish his move before he starts rolling the dice. But since the pace of the game is often very fast, a player can pick up the dice while the other player is doing his move.