10. Backgammon

Tavla (Turkish backgammon) is a popular game. Dice rolls are referred to by Persian numbers: yek (1), dü (2), se (3), cehar (4), penc (5) and şeş (6).

Three versions of tavla

• Erkek tavlası (boy's or men's tavla) is the most common version
• Kız tavlası (girls' tavla) - Depends only on the dice and involves no strategy.
• Asker tavlası (soldiers' tavla) - Pieces are thrown to the board randomly. Opponents try to flip their pieces over the opponents' pieces to beat them.

Differences between tavla and backgammon

• The winner of the opening roll re-rolls for his first turn.
• Once all 15 checkers are in your home board, you must bearoff checkers where possible rather than use a smaller number to move checkers forward.
• The winner scores 1 point for a normal win and 2 points for a gammon.
• No backgammon. 
• No "hit-and-run" in a player's home board.
• No doubling cube.