Editing Tables game (section)

=== Europe ===
[[File:MaryRoseTablesGame.jpg|thumb|A tables board found in the shipwreck of the [[Mary Rose]] (1545)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/resources/life-in-tudor-england/tudor-games-indoor-pastimes/|title=Tudor Games & Indoor Pastimes}}</ref>]]
==== France ====
'''[[Trictrac]]''' was the classic [[French people|French]] tables game of the 17th and 18th centuries in the same way that backgammon that now is in the English-speaking world.<ref name="Parlett">Parlett (1999), p. 86.</ref> There are two main forms of the game, ''le Grand Trictrac'' and ''le Petit Trictrac.''<ref>{{cite book |title=Le Grand Trictrac. Ou Méthode Facile pour Apprendre san Maître. |last=Soumille |first=Abbot (abbé) Bernard Laurent |year=1738 |publisher=Chez F.Girard & D. Seguin |location=Avignon|language=fr |pages=320 |postscript=NUC: Library of Congress, University of Chicago.}}</ref> However, it is not a race game; rather the main aim is to score points.

In Trictrac, the starting point is called a ''talon'', the points, or ''fleches'', are numbered to 12 on both sides of the board, with the 12th point on either side called the ''coin de repos'', or, simply, ''coin''. The 11th point (on either side) is often called ''le case d'écolier'', or 'schoolboy's point' (''case'' meaning 'square', literally) after the tendency of inexperienced players to rush to this point too soon in the game.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Board Games Other than Chess |last=Murray |first=H. J. R. |author-link=H. J. R. Murray |year=1978 |publisher=Hacker Art Books |isbn=978-0-87817-211-5 |pages=279}}</ref>  Statistically, the most difficult points in the game to reach aside from the ''coins'' are the 8th points, and they are named ''les fleches de diable'', or '[[Satan|the Devil's]] points', for this reason.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ibid}}</ref> The home boards are referred to as the ''jan de retour'' by either player. Doubles are treated as two identical numbers.<ref>{{cite book |title=Le Jeu de Trictrac |year=1701 |publisher=Chez Henry Charpentier |location=Paris |pages=198 |postscript=ASIN: B004FKIFEY.}}</ref>

Trictrac was superseded by the much simpler game of '''[[Jacquet (game)|Jacquet]]''' during the 19th century, a race game with a number of distinctive features. First, players circulated the board in the same direction rather than in opposing directions. Second, players could not move the majority of their pieces until the first piece, the "courier" or "postilion", had reached the final quadrant.<ref>Fiske (1905), p. 183.</ref> Jacquet was largely ousted by Anglo-American games in the 1960s, but its rules are still published and boards are still manufactured.<ref name="Parlett" /><ref>[http://salondesjeux.fr/jacquet.htm ''Le jeu de Jacquet''] at salondesjeux.fr. Retrieved 29 October 2021.</ref>

'''[[Tourne Case]]''' is another old French tables game and more one of chance than skill. Using a tables board, each player only takes 3 pieces. The aim is to enter them onto the board using the throws of the dice and be first to move all 3 to the "home corner" (''coin de repos'') on the 12th point of the board. The men may not pass over one another nor may there be more than one on a point except in the home corner. If a man moves to a point opposite that of an opposing man, the latter is "hit". It must be removed from the board and re-entered from the start.<ref>Fallavel (1715), pp. 63–77.</ref>
{{anchor|Tavli}}

====Greece and Cyprus====
{{main|Tavli}}
[[File:Tavli Board without slots (traditional).jpg|thumb|Traditional Greek [[Tavli]] board made from [[Rosewood]] with checkers made of [[Galalith]].]]
Tables games are popular among the [[Greeks]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Playing Tavli (Backgammon) in Greece with Omilo |url=https://omilo.com/greek-backgammon/ |website=omilo.com |access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref> These games are called '''Tavli''', derived in [[Byzantine]] times from the Latin word {{lang|la|tabula}}.<ref name="koukoules" /> A game of the tables family called [[Tabula (game)|Tavli]] ([[Byzantine Greek]]: {{lang|grc-x-medieval|τάβλι}}) is described in an epigram of the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[Zeno (emperor)|Emperor Zeno]] (AD 476–481).<ref name="austin-zeno" /> The games of [[Tavli]] most commonly played are:

* '''Portes''' has no doubling cube, and players only win double (called ''diplo'', Greek for "double"), not triple, when a player bears off all the counters while the opponent has yet to bear off any and has still counters on the winner's home board or on the bar.{{efn|Winning double in Backgammon occurs when the player bears off all the counters while the opponent has yet to bear any off.}}
* '''[[Plakoto]]''' is very similar to Mahbusa or [[Tapa (game)|tapa]]. It has some general similarities with Portes, but with a different opening layout of the pieces and blots are [[pinning (tables game)|pinned]] (so they cannot move) instead of being hit.
* '''Fevga''' is similar to '''Narde''' or the Turkish variant '''Moultezim'''.  It is a [[running game (tables game)|running game]] of [[parallel movement]]; players moving in the same direction. There is not hitting or pinning and a point is blocked to the opponent even when occupied by a single piece.

The three games are normally played consecutively, in three-, five- or seven-point matches.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|title=Tavli (Greek Backgammon)|publisher=Backgammon Galore!|url=http://www.bkgm.com/variants/Tavli.html|year=2003|access-date=2006-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060813073758/http://www.bkgm.com/variants/Tavli.html|archive-date=13 August 2006|url-status=live}}</ref> Before starting a match, each player rolls 1 die, and the player with the highest roll picks up both dice and re-rolls (i.e. it is possible to roll doubles for the opening move). Players use the same pair of dice in turns. After the first game, the winner of the previous game starts first. Each game counts as 1 point, if the opponent has borne off at least 1 stone, otherwise 2 points. There is no doubling cube. Tavli is considered the national board game of Cyprus and Greece.

Other Greek tables games include:
* '''Gul''' or '''Multezim''' is Fevga with the feature that, on a double, one has to play all doubles subsequently till the 6–6. If a dice throw cannot be fulfilled in any way, his opponent takes the turn for the remaining moves of that throw.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tavliinfo.gr/tavlimain/tavligames/gioul/index.html|title = ΓΚΙΟΥΛ}}</ref>
* '''Asodio''' is a game where all pieces are off the board at the outset and players enter either by rolling doubles or an Ace-Deuce combination.
* '''Sfaktes''' means "slayers".<ref name="bkgm-tavli">[http://www.bkgm.com/variants/Tavli.html "Tavli (Greek Backgammon)".] ''Backgammon Galore''. Retrieved on August 8, 2006.</ref> 
* '''Evraiko''' (Jewish), a much simpler game depending entirely on luck with no room for skill.

====Romania====
In [[Romania]], ''tablă'' (meaning "board", cognate of the Latin ''tabula'') has two variations: there is no doubling cube and a backgammon counts only as a gammon (called ''marț''). Matches are usually played to three points.

====Sweden====
[[File:Old Backgammon Vasa.jpg|thumb|Tables board with counters recovered from the Swedish 17th century warship ''[[Regalskeppet Vasa|Vasa]]''.]]
'''Bräde''' or '''svenskt brädspel''' ("Swedish Tables") is an elaborate version of the historical game [[verquere]] that is played in [[Sweden]]. Players start with all 15 of their counters on opposite corners of the board, and play around counter-clockwise. Besides bearing off, there are several other ways to win, such as arranging all of one's counters in certain pre-determined patterns, or by hitting so many counters that one's opponent can not bring them in again. Additional points are awarded for a victory while one's opponent has counters on the bar. Brädspel is played without the doubling cube.<ref name="helmfrid-bradspel">Helmfrid, Sten, ''et al.'' ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060211000038/https://www.vasamuseet.se/upload/the_game_of_swedish_tables.pdf The Game of Swedish Tables]'' [PDF]. February 26, 2003. Retrieved on August 12, 2006.</ref> Interest in brädspel experienced a resurgence following the recovery of a 17th-century board from the wreck of the [[Regalskeppet Vasa|Vasa]].<ref name="vasa-museum">[http://www.vasamuseet.se/Vasamuseet/Om/Vasamuseets%20vanner/Bradspelsvanner.aspx?lang=en "Vasamuseet — The Swedish-Tables Association"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060518141653/http://www.vasamuseet.se/Vasamuseet/Om/Vasamuseets%20vanner/Bradspelsvanner.aspx?lang=en |date=2006-05-18 }}, ''The Vasa Museum''. Retrieved on August 12, 2006.</ref>