Backgammon around the Globe

The international popularity of one of the world's oldest board games The word backgammon derives from either Welsh or Saxon, depending on which sources one believes. However, backgammon is not actually the standard name for the type of game it represents. The general name for games played on a board with two rows of 12 vertical points is tables. Tables/backgammon exists in many different forms and names around the globe. Puff German backgammon is known as puff. In this variant of backgammon, players enter from the same quadrant and move around the board in the same direction. Shesh Besh Shesh besh means six and five, and it's the form of backgammon usually found in the Middle East. Shesh besh is a very similar game to backgammon, except that to begin, both players roll a die and the winner gets to move and also re-roll for a first turn. A doubling cube is not used in shesh besh, but a gammon counts for two points and a backgammon (a gammon with a checker on the bar) for three.

Tavla

Turkish backgammon is known as tavla. In tavla, gammons and backgammons are counted as two points, and matches are often to five points.

Tavli (Portes, Plakoto, Fevga)

Three names for one game: such is backgammon in the nation of Greece. Tavli naturally means "table," and a game of tavli consists of consecutive games of portes, plakoto, and fevga. Portes is like backgammon except it uses the same opening roll rule as the Turkish tavla. In plakoto, players begin with all checkers on their own 24 point and trapping is used instead of hitting. In fevga, unlike plakoto, players move in the same direction, and no hitting or trapping is allowed, since checkers can't occupy the same point.

Sugoroku

Sugoroku is Japanese tables, and it comes in two different forms, one like backgammon and another like snakes and ladders. Sugoroku backgammon is similar to the Western game, except that the goal is to move all checkers into the last six points rather than off the board. There is no doubling cube, and rolled doubles are only moved once. Full primes, i.e. blocking six consecutive points, is not allowed in sugoroku.