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Backgammon · Tavla & Dama

How to Play Tapa

Tapa is a backgammon game from Turkey, known in Greece as Plakoto. It uses the same board and dice, but nobody is hit: a lone checker is pinned under an opponent's checker and cannot move until it is released.

Both players start with all 15 checkers on a single point, so the early game is all about who pins whom.

Players:
2
Checkers:
15 each
Dice:
2

Goal

  • Bring all 15 of your checkers into your home board and bear them off. The first player to bear off all 15 wins the game.

Moving

  • Each die moves one checker that many points. A double is played four times.
  • You must play as many dice as you can. If only one of the two dice can be played, play the larger one when you can.
  • You cannot land on a point held by two or more opponent checkers.
  • If you have no legal move, the turn passes.

Bearing off

  • When all 15 checkers are in your home board, a die bears off a checker from its own point.
  • A higher die bears off your farthest checker when no checker stands on a higher point.

Scoring

  • A win is 1 point. A gammon, when the loser has borne off no checker, is 2 points.
  • The first player to reach the match length wins the match.

Tapa

  • Start: all 15 checkers on your 24-point.
  • No hitting. Landing on a single opponent checker pins it: it cannot move until your checker leaves, and the point is yours until then.
  • Mother checker: pinning the opponent's last checker on their starting point wins 2 points. If you still have checkers on your own starting point, play goes on and you win as soon as your last one leaves it.
  • If both mother checkers are pinned, the game is a draw.
  • Opening: the higher die starts and throws both dice again. There is no doubling cube.

Tips

  • A pinned checker deep in your opponent's path is a big advantage: their home board fills up while it waits.
  • Do not leave your last checker alone on your starting point if your opponent can reach it.
  • Move in pairs where you can. Two checkers together cannot be pinned.

Controls

  • Tap the dice to roll.
  • Tap a checker and then a lit point, or drag the checker there.
  • Undo takes a move back. Done ends your turn.

Play Tapa in Tavla & Dama

Tavla & Dama puts backgammon and draughts in one beautiful wooden box: Tavla, Tapa and Gülbara, and eight kinds of draughts. Play smart bots anytime, even offline, or open a private room and play with a friend.

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