Backgammon Guide — How to Play Tavla

This guide summarises the rules used in North Sultan: Tavla. The game is classic Turkish tavla: checkers move under the international backgammon rules, and scoring follows the Turkish custom (a mars (gammon) scores 2 points and there is no doubling cube). The few extra rules that online play needs (timers, disconnections and aborted matches) are set out separately below. The rules are enforced automatically and equally for everyone by our server; an illegal move cannot be made, and the app only offers moves that are allowed. The game is for adults 18+ and for entertainment only: virtual chips have no monetary value and nothing of real-world value can be won. North Sultan: Tavla uses the same North Sultan account as North Sultan: 101 Okey, North Sultan: Batak, North Sultan: Satranç and North Sultan: Okey; for their rules see the Game Guide, the Batak Guide, the Chess Guide and the Okey Guide. The Turkish version of this guide is Tavla Rehberi.

1. Board, checkers and dice

• Tavla is played by two players. The board has 24 points (hane), split into four quarters of six by the bar in the middle: your home board (ev), your outer board, your opponent's outer board and your opponent's home board.
• Each player has 15 checkers (pul). The light checkers are White (mother-of-pearl), the dark checkers Black (ebony). The board is always shown with your checkers at the bottom; you move them anticlockwise into your home board at the bottom right.
• Each player numbers the points from their own side, from 24 down to 1; points 1–6 are your home board. Starting position: 2 checkers on your 24-point, 5 on the 13-point, 3 on the 8-point and 5 on the 6-point. At the start both sides need 167 pips to finish (the pip count).
• The game is played with two dice. The server throws the dice; the app only animates the result (see section 10).
• A single checker on a point is a blot (açık pul); a point holding two or more of your checkers is a made point (kapı). A hit checker goes to the bar (kırık pul). Removing checkers from the board is bearing off (pul toplamak).

Names of the throws

In the Turkish version the app shows the traditional name of each throw under the dice (the English version shows the numbers):

Mixed throws are called higher die first, with the numbers read as Yek (1), Dü (2), Se (3), Cihar (4), Beş (5) and Şeş (6): e.g. 6-5 Şeş beş, 4-1 Cihar yek, 3-2 Se dü.

2. Opening and moves

1. Opening roll: at the start of each game both players throw one die; the higher number starts and plays those two numbers as the first move. On a tie both throw again. In a match, every game starts with a fresh opening roll.
2. The player whose turn it is throws both dice and moves checkers towards home by the numbers shown. Each die is a separate move; the same checker may use both dice.
3. Doubles (e.g. 4-4) are played four times.
4. A checker may land on an empty point, on a point with your own checkers, or on a point with exactly one opposing checker. Landing on a single opposing checker hits it and sends it to the bar. A checker may never land on a point held by two or more opposing checkers.
5. Bar first: if you have a checker on the bar, you must bring it back into your opponent's home board before making any other move. A die of n enters it on the point numbered 25 − n from your side. If no entry point is open, your turn passes.
6. Use as much of the throw as possible: if both dice can be played, both must be played. If only one can be played, that one must be played; if either die can be played but not both, the higher one must be played. With doubles, play as many as possible. The server works out every legal sequence of moves; the app only offers moves inside them.
7. If there is no legal move, the turn passes automatically ("No move to play").
8. Your turn ends when you tap Done or automatically after your last die is played. Until then you may undo the moves of the current turn; the dice are not thrown again.

3. Bearing off

• You may start bearing off only when all 15 of your checkers are in your home board.
• A die removes a checker from the point matching its number. A die higher than your highest occupied point removes a checker from your highest occupied point; otherwise the die must be played inside your home board.
• If one of your checkers is hit while you are bearing off, it must re-enter and come back home before you can continue bearing off.

4. Game, mars and match

• In the Turkish tradition there is no doubling cube, and there is no 3-point "backgammon".
• Match: the first player to reach the chosen number of points wins the match. Choices: Single game (one game; a mars still scores 2, but the match ends with that game), First to 3 (default) and First to 5.
• The score is shown at the table, e.g. "2 – 1 · first to 3".

5. Timers

• You have 30 seconds per turn, counted from the moment the dice land. When they run out, your time bank of 60 seconds per game starts to run; the bank is refilled at the start of each new game.
• Turns with a single forced move and turns with no legal move are played automatically.
• If your turn time and your time bank run out, the server plays the turn for you (it throws the dice and makes the move the computer would choose at Easy level). Three timeouts in one match lose the match.
• In the last 10 seconds the turn plaque glows amber and a soft tick plays.
• The server keeps the time; the countdown on your screen is corrected to the server's clock.

6. Ways to play and virtual chips

• In the lounges the stake is 500, 2,500, 10,000, 50,000 or 250,000 virtual chips per player (Kahvehane, Kapalıçarşı, Saray Bahçesi, Has Oda, Divan-ı Hümayun). The stake is per match, not per game. To sit in a lounge you need at least 10 times the stake in your balance. Has Oda is open to women players and VIP members.
• To sit at a staked table you must be signed in, have accepted the current Terms of Use, not be on a break or self-exclusion, and stay within your monthly spending limit (the limit is shared by all North Sultan games).
• In a staked match both stakes go into the pot. The winner of the match receives the pot minus the table commission (5 % for regular members, 3 % for VIP members). If the opponent is the computer, its stake is covered by the game. A mars does not change the chip result: it only adds 2 points to the match score.
• If a match is aborted (see section 7), both stakes are refunded without commission.
• Same opponent again: the 4th and every later staked match between the same two accounts within 24 hours counts as unstaked: stakes are refunded, Elo ratings do not change and no tournament points are scored. This rule prevents collusion and chip transfers.
• Virtual chips have no monetary value, cannot be cashed out and cannot be transferred between players. Your chip balance is shared by all North Sultan games.

7. Leaving, disconnections and aborted matches

• A player who leaves the table, or who does not come back within 45 seconds after a disconnection, loses the match. If you come back within 45 seconds, the match continues where it stopped.
• Abort: a match that ends by leaving, disconnection or timeouts before either side has played 2 turns is aborted: stakes are refunded, ratings do not change, and the match does not count for statistics or tournaments.

8. Computer opponents

• In practice games your opponent is the computer at the level you choose (Easy, Medium, Hard).
• On public tables (Quick Play and lounges), if no other player is waiting, an empty seat may be filled after about 6 seconds with a computer-controlled player ("bot") so that nobody waits long. To keep the atmosphere of the table, bots are not individually labelled.
• Bots play by the same rules and with the same timer. A bot cannot see the dice before they are thrown: both sides' dice come from the same server dice, and the bot knows only the position on the board and the dice already thrown; it cannot influence the result in any other way.
• Computer opponents have a fixed Elo rating (Easy 1200, Medium 1500, Hard 1750) that does not change with results; your rating is calculated against that fixed rating.
• Bots never win anything of real value: a bot's stake is covered by the game, and chips won by a bot are not transferred to any real person but leave the game. Bots are not used to push players towards purchases.
• The computer opponent is the studio's own backgammon engine.

9. Elo rating, leaderboard and tournaments

• Everyone starts with an Elo rating of 1500. Your rating changes only in matches played to the end on public tables (Quick Play and lounges); practice, private games, aborted matches and matches that count as unstaked (see section 6) do not change it.
• After a match your rating is updated by the difference between the actual result (match won 1, lost 0) and the result expected from your opponent's rating: new rating = old rating + K × (result − expected result), where expected result = 1 / (1 + 10^((opponent's rating − your rating) / 400)). K is 32 for your first 30 rated matches and 16 after that (lower than in chess because the dice add luck). The result is rounded to the nearest whole number.
• The Leaderboard ranks players by Elo rating. Your profile shows your matches and games, wins, marses won and lost, your best winning streak and your average pip count. The weekly league and your level/XP are shared across your North Sultan account.
• Tournaments: the Daily Backgammon Cup (Günlük Tavla Kupası, free) and the Weekly Backgammon League (Haftalık Tavla Ligi, 5,000 virtual chips entry). Tournament points come only from public, staked matches played to the end (3 points for a win, 1 for a loss). Prizes are virtual chips and cosmetic digital items only: Tournament Rules.

10. Fair dice

• The dice are thrown on the server with a cryptographically secure random number generator (CSPRNG); there is one throw per turn, and every throw is stored with the match record.
• The dice are thrown on the server with cryptographic-grade randomness; nobody — including us — can choose the result in advance. Your app never decides a number; it only shows the result sent by the server.
• Dice are thrown the same way for real players and computer opponents; they are never adjusted for level, balance, VIP membership or purchases.

11. Chat, voice chat and cosmetics

• Table chat goes only to the players at that table; quick phrases (Selam, İyi oyunlar, Şanslı zar!, Tebrikler) let you greet each other. In voice chat everyone can listen and VIP members can speak; voice chat is not recorded. Rules: Community Guidelines.
• Tavla-only cosmetics such as boards (Walnut & Mother-of-pearl, Ebony & Ivory, Amber Palace), checker sets and dice, and the frames shared by all games, change only the look; they never affect the rules, the dice or the result.

12. Fair play

The server runs the game; every move is checked against the rules on the server and nobody can influence the result from outside. On public tables, using backgammon analysis software, a bot or help from another person, collusion (e.g. losing on purpose, passing on rating or chips) and chip dumping are prohibited; when detected, match results and ratings may be corrected and the account may be restricted: Terms of Use, Community Guidelines.

Questions: [email protected] · Support