Turkish Backgammon

Also known as Tawula, this game is played in Asia Minor and Egypt.

Setup: Each player starts with 2 checkers on the rightmost point of the far side of the board, at diagonally opposite corners from each other, and 13 checkers off the board. The players move in the same direction, counterclockwise, around the board.

Object: The object of the game is for the player to move all their checkers around the board to their finishing table, and then bear them off.

To start: Each player rolls one die. The player who rolls the higher number goes first and uses those numbers for his first turn.

Entering checkers: Players may not move their first two checkers until all of their other checkers have been entered onto the board. Players enter a checker by placing it on a point in the starting table corresponding to a number rolled. Players may not enter a checker onto a point occupied by one or more of their own checkers, or onto a point occupied by two or more opposing checkers. After players have entered a checker, they have the option of using the other number(s) rolled either to enter more checkers or to move the checkers on the board.

Movement: The roll of the dice indicates how many points/pips the player moves his checkers.
The following rules apply:

Hitting: A checker sitting alone on a point is a blot. If an opposing checker lands on a blot, the blot is hit and placed on the bar. If a blot is hit in the opponent's starting table, a point in that table must be left open so that re-entry is possible.

Entering from the bar: Any time players have one or more checkers on the bar, their first obligation is to re-enter those checker(s) into their starting table. Players enter a checker by moving it to an open point corresponding to one of the numbers on the rolled dice. If they are able to enter some but not all of their checkers, they must enter as many as they can then give up the remainder of their turn.

Restrictions on closing points: Players can not pile more than one checker on a point on the opponent's side of the board with one exception: the leftmost point on the opponent's side of the board is called the head and players may pile as many checkers as they want onto that point. This makes entering checkers far more difficult than in regular backgammon because the player's own checkers create blocks in addition to any closed points created by their opponent.

Bearing off: Once the players have moved all fifteen of their checkers into their finishing table, they may begin bearing off by rolling a number that corresponds to the point on which the checker resides, and then removing that checker from the board. If there is no checker on the point indicated, then they must use a checker on a higher-numbered point. If there are no such checkers, they must remove a checker from the highest point that has one.

Scoring: The first player to bear off all fifteen checkers wins. If a player has borne off one checker and all his other checkers are ready to be borne off, and the opponent has one checker on the bar and all other checkers ready to be borne off, the first player wins capote, counting seven games.

There is no doubling in this game.

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