"Tavlou" or "Nardi"

[Guest]

Cobblestone, May 2000 v21 i5 p40

Backgammon The All-Armenian Game. Tom Vartabedian.

 

Armenians call it tavlou (YAVH-loo), which is derived from a word for

table. It is the gateway to excitement, challenge, and fun. You may know

the game by the name of its American counterpart, backgammon. Tavlou is a

lot like checkers. In fact, most American checkerboards carry the

backgammon game board on the reverse side. (Now you know what that board

with all those narrow triangles is for!)

 

Centuries-old, tavlou is a game of skill and luck for all ages. The best

games are played at Armenian festivals, where the smell of barbecued lamb

filters through the air. Some of the wooden game boards used there are

works of art, with beautiful inlaid wood. Armenian tavlou players are known

to strike their stones, or chips, with a thud and call out Turkish and

Kurdish expressions for each roll of the dice. One such phrase is iki bir

(icky-beer), meaning "two one." It is an Armenian custom to use tiny dice,

so have a magnifying glass handy!

 

The Rules

 

Tavlou is played by two people. Players take turns rolling two dice and

moving their stones the corresponding number of spots toward their home

board. See the illustration opposite for how to set up the board. To win a

game, a player must do two things: Move all his or her stones to his or her

home board; then remove the stones from the board. A player can begin to

remove his or her stones only after all of them are on his or her home

board. The first person to complete this wins. In Armenia, whoever wins

five games first is the winner.

 

ThePlay

 

1. Begin by setting up the game as shown in the illustration. To start,

each player rolls one die. The player who rolls the higher number goes

first. In case of a tie, throw again. The winner of the previous game rolls

first in the next game.

 

2. The first player rolls both dice at the same time. The dice must come to

rest flat upon the board. Otherwise, the player must roll again.

 

3.A play is deemed complete when a player moves his or her stones, removes

his or her hands from the board after the final move of that turn, and his

or her opponent then starts to pick up the dice.

 

4. The play of the stones can be accomplished in several ways. The player

can move one stone the number of times indicated by the total amount of the

two dice, or the player can move two different stones -- one each the

number that is indicated on each of the two dice.

 

5. Rolling doubles (for example, two threes) translates into four plays.

(Four stones can be moved three spaces.)

 

6.A player cannot land on the same place held by two or more of the

opponent's stones. If there is only one opponent's stone at the landing

point, the opponent's stone gets knocked off the board and must reenter

from the other player's home board.

 

7. A player who has a stone that needs reentry may not play any other stone

until the former is back in the game.

 

8. For more involved play, we recommend picking up a copy of Hoyle's or

some other game book that offers further instruction.

 

Kurdish is the language of the people of Kurdistan, a large region in

southwest Asia.

 

You need

 

A backgammon board 15 black stones or chips 15 white stones or chips two

dice

 

Tom Vartabedian has been a writer and photographer for The Haverhill

Gazette for thirty years. He is active in the Armenian community and has

been a correspondent for The Armenian Weekly for forty years.

[Guest]

My uncles always play backgammon, but I have never heard them use the word "tavlou", it is always "nardi", but they also call out in Turkish "icki, bir", amazing how we still do that after all the crap the Turks have done to us. I have never been one for board games, but I like the way the instructions are presented in this article. I think I will show my students how to play, to develop their logic skills.

[Guest]

Txa jan, hla mi hat el nardiyi orenkneres usumnasirum?..lol..Personal opinion: nardi is the most annoying game that is a complete waste of time. I'd much rather armenian men played chess (as many do, but not enough), instead of getting drunk and aimlessly wasting their time on nardi. The end..lol

[Guest]

Considering the number of chess world and olimpic champions of Armenian nationality I don't think nardi harms our logic.

This is the first time I come across a person who reffers to Armenians as drunkers, because we are known as a non-drinking nation. I don't know how is it in the US, but for example in Russia they say that Armenians are prosperous because they don't drink and waste their time.

As to nardi, if you knew how to play, you would know that it develops a kind of mathimatical logic despite the "luck" being a factor in the game.

[Guest]

Yeah..Nardi is fun....when you know the rules..and the one you're playing against is not your Dad!!

[Guest]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Half Breed:
"icki, bir"

---

Otherwise known as the worst-possible roll .

My family calls it "tavloo" and also used the turkish numbering. My grandfather always said, "Don't count when you're moving your pieces, your opponent will know you are a beginner."

[Guest]

I used to play that game when i was a kid. It was REALLY confusing at first bet then i got it and it seemd pretty fun

[Guest]

The word used in Turkey for a backgammon board is tavla - it not Turkish or Armenian in origin, but is derived from the latin word "Tabula" meaning small table. The game originates in the Roman Empire from the 1st century AD - although there are even earlier games played in the Classical World that are similar to it, and from which it is probably derived.

 

Steve

[Guest]

Steve, welcome. Please dont take any offence(it is a compliment!) but I got the impression that you were a girl, from your username!

 

To the rest:

Well, as you can see from this post there are many personal opinions! But i want to hear more.

And I would like to know if any Arm men OR women have a history of gambling problems, like men do in cyprus. They are such clever business men, make all their money, the throw it away on compulsive gambling! But I respect that to some it is only a game too.