Fevga rules
- Mültezim
- Февга
- Φεύγα
- طاولة 31
Fevga is the third game of the Greek tavli trio, played in Turkey as Mültezim. Both players run the same way round the board from diagonally opposite corners, nothing is ever hit — one checker holds a point by itself — and the opening is a lone sprint: your first checker must get clear before any other may move.
- Point 12: 15 × Black
- Point 24: 15 × White
- Pips White: 360
- Pips Black: 360
The starting position
All fifteen checkers start on your own corner point; the two starting corners lie diagonally opposite. Both sides travel the same way round the board, and your home quarter — where you bear off — is the last quarter of your own path.
The first roll
Each player rolls one die; the higher one starts and plays exactly those two numbers. A tie is rolled again — so the first turn of a game is never a double.
Rolling and moving
Two dice, exact numbers, always forward; a double is played four times. You must play every number you legally can, and the higher one if only one of the two fits. There is no hitting and no bar — what is blocked is simply blocked.
One checker holds a point
A single checker owns its point outright: the opponent may neither land on it nor touch it as the intermediate step of a combined move. Every lone checker is a closed door — a game about doors rather than contact.
The head rule
Until your first checker has reached the opponent's starting quarter — the six points beginning at their corner — it is the only checker you may move; the other fourteen wait. Sources disagree on whether reaching that quarter is enough or the corner itself must be passed; nard.gg plays the Greek reading: reaching it is enough.
-
- Point 12: 15 × Black
- Point 24: 15 × White
- Pips White: 360
- Pips Black: 360
1 All fifteen checkers stand on the head. White opens. -
Last move White: 24/13
- Point 12: 15 × Black
- Point 13: 1 × White
- Point 24: 14 × White
- Pips White: 349
- Pips Black: 360
2 White rolls 6–5. Exactly one move is legal: 24/13.
Forbidden blockades
Six points in a row are generally allowed — but not the three walls that would end the game instead of shaping it: all six points of your own starting quarter, the six points directly in front of the opponent's starting corner, or any six-point wall that leaves the opponent without a single playable roll.
Bearing off
Once all fifteen have reached your home quarter, you bear off: each number takes a checker from the point it names, and a number higher than your highest occupied point bears off from that one. Bearing off is never compulsory.
-
- Point 1: 1 × White
- Point 2: 1 × White
- Point 3: 1 × White
- Point 4: 2 × White
- Point 5: 2 × White
- Point 6: 2 × White
- Point 13: 3 × Black
- Point 14: 3 × Black
- Point 15: 3 × Black
- Point 16: 2 × Black
- Point 17: 2 × Black
- Point 18: 2 × Black
- Borne off White: 6
- Pips White: 36
- Pips Black: 48
1 White has every checker home; six are already off. -
Last move White: 6/off 5/off
- Point 1: 1 × White
- Point 2: 1 × White
- Point 3: 1 × White
- Point 4: 2 × White
- Point 5: 1 × White
- Point 6: 1 × White
- Point 13: 3 × Black
- Point 14: 3 × Black
- Point 15: 3 × Black
- Point 16: 2 × Black
- Point 17: 2 × Black
- Point 18: 2 × Black
- Borne off White: 8
- Pips White: 25
- Pips Black: 48
2 White rolls 6–5 and plays 6/off 5/off.
Scoring
One point for the win — two if the loser has borne off nothing. There is no triple game and no doubling cube.
The basics of strategy
Because a single checker holds a point outright, every blockade is cheap — and six consecutive points are a wall the opponent stands in front of until a roll lets them past. The head rule slows the start: until your first checker reaches the opponent's starting zone it is the only one you may move, so the opening roll is a question of distance, not of building. After that the rule is simple: build where the opponent still has to pass. Behind them, a wall is worth nothing.
Culture and vocabulary
Fevga — φεύγα, “flee” — is the third and quietest game of the tavli series; Turkey calls it Mültezim. Nothing is ever hit and nobody goes to the bar; the worst that happens to you is a road that is closed. That is what makes it the game of the long evening: the third game in the kafenío is Fevga.
Quick answers
- Is there hitting in Fevga?
- Never. A lone checker owns its point outright: your opponent may neither land there nor pass through it as an intermediate step of a combined move. Fevga is a game about closed doors, not about contact.
- What is the head rule in Fevga?
- Until your first checker reaches the opponent's starting quarter — the six points from their starting corner on — it is the only checker you may move; the other fourteen wait on the head. nard.gg plays the Greek reading: reaching the quarter is enough.
- What is the difference between Fevga and Gul Bara?
- The setup is the same and so is the direction of travel; three things separate them. Gul Bara has no head rule and no forbidden blockades, and there a double is played four times and then hands the thrower the next one up — in Fevga a double stays a double.