Plakoto

Along with Portes and Fevga, Plakoto is one of three backgammon games popular in Greece. The three games together are called Tavli and are typically played one after the other in matches of three, five, or seven points.

Plakoto is also played in Bulgaria, where it is goes by the name Tapa.

Setup: Each player starts with fifteen checkers on the opponent's one-point. The checkers move around the board in opposite directions.

Object: The object of the game for the players to bring all their checkers around to their own home board and then bear them off. The first player to bear off all of his checkers wins.

To start: Each player rolls one die with the higher number going first. That player then re-rolls the dice to begin his first turn. After the first game, the winner of the previous game goes first.

Movement: The roll of the dice indicates how many pips the player is to move his checkers. The following rules apply:

Pinning the opponent: There is no hitting in this game. Instead, if a player lands on a point occupied by a single opposing checker, the opponent's checker is trapped until the player removes their checker. Two checkers on a point, or one checker pinning the opponent's checker creates a block which the opponent cannot land or touch down upon.

Pinning the mother checker: The last checker on the players' starting point is called the mother. If this checker gets pinned by the opponent before leaving the start, the game is over and the player loses two points. The exception is when the opponent still has checkers on his starting point, as his own mother is still threatened. A game where both mothers are pinned is a tie.

Bearing Off: Once players have moved all fifteen of their checkers into their home board, they may start bearing off. Players bear off by rolling a number that corresponds to the point on which the checker resides, then removing that checker from the board. If there is no checker on the point indicated by the roll, players must make a legal move using a checker on a higher-numbered point. If there are no checkers on higher-numbered points, players must remove a checker from the highest point that has a checker.

Scoring: The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins the game. If the losing player has borne off at least one checker, he loses only one point; otherwise he loses two points.

There is no doubling in this game.

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