Tabula

Tabula is a Roman game dating back several centuries before the birth of Christ. The game later spread to Europe and became popular in England, where it was known as Tables. Modern understanding of the rules of Tabula comes principally from records kept by Emperor Zeno in 480 AD.

Setup: The equipment for Tabula is the same backgammon, except that the players have three dice instead of two. There are no such things as "doubles" in Tabula. Unlike backgammon, all checkers start off the board, and both players enter their fifteen checkers into the same starting table and move them around the board in the same direction.

Object: The object is for the player to move his checkers to the finishing table and then bear them off. The first player who bears off all his checkers wins the game.

To start: Each player rolls one die. The higher number goes first. That player then rolls all three of his dice to start his turn.

Entering checkers: Players enter a checker onto the board by placing it on a point in the starting table equivalent to a number rolled. However, players may not enter a checker onto a point already occupied by two or more opposing checkers.

Once the player has entered one or more checkers, he may use following rolls to move those checkers forward, enter more checkers, or both. Unlike backgammon, Tabula players may not move checkers to the second half of the board until all of their other checkers have been entered.

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

A checker may be moved only to an open point unoccupied by two or more opposing checkers.

The numbers on the three dice constitute separate moves. A player may move one checker using two or all three rolled numbers only if the intermediate points are open.

Players must play all three numbers of a roll if at all possible.