Editing Tables game (section)

====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.