Gul bara rules
- Gül Bara
- Гюльбара
- Γκιουλ Μπαρά
- Гюлбара
- جول بارا
Gul bara — also called rosespring backgammon or crazy narde — is Bulgaria's game on fevga's board: the same parallel course from diagonally opposite corners, the same lone checker holding a point. But it is freer: there is no head rule and no forbidden blockade, and doubles escalate — a single roll can move mountains.
- 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.
No head rule, no blockade bans
Unlike in fevga, you may move any checker from the very first roll: each number may move a checker off the head, a double up to four. No blockade is ever forbidden either — six points in a row are allowed, and if you shut your opponent in completely, they sit out until the wall opens.
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- Point 12: 15 × Black
- Point 24: 15 × White
- Pips White: 360
- Pips Black: 360
1 The starting position. White to move. -
Last move White: 24/19 24/18
- Point 12: 15 × Black
- Point 18: 1 × White
- Point 19: 1 × White
- Point 24: 13 × White
- Pips White: 349
- Pips Black: 360
2 White rolls 6–5 and plays 24/19 24/18. -
Last move Black: 24/23 24/21
- Point 9: 1 × Black
- Point 11: 1 × Black
- Point 12: 13 × Black
- Point 18: 1 × White
- Point 19: 1 × White
- Point 24: 13 × White
- Pips White: 349
- Pips Black: 356
3 Black rolls 3–1 and plays 24/23 24/21.
Doubles escalate
A double is played four times — and then hands you the next one for free: after 4-4 you play 5-5, then 6-6, all without rolling again. The chain ends at 6-6, or at the first number you cannot play out in full. A single roll of 1-1 can be worth up to twenty-four moves.
Each player's first three rolls are exempt from the chain — without that grace, the opening would belong to whoever rolls a double first.
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.
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- 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
Without a head rule, building starts at once: move checkers off the head early and you take points before your opponent needs them, and since no blockade is forbidden, a wall may grow until it shuts your opponent in completely. Then comes the escalation, and it changes the arithmetic — a position that is safe against one roll is not safe against twenty-four moves in a row. Builders therefore keep their options open rather than locking themselves into a pretty formation.
Culture and vocabulary
Gul bara — гюлбара, also rosespring backgammon or crazy narde — is the third game of the Bulgarian and Turkish series. Its reputation comes from the doubles: roll one and the higher ones follow for free. That turns the quietest game of the family into the loudest — a game can turn on two rolls, and that is exactly what it is played for.
Quick answers
- What happens on a double?
- It is played four times and then gives you the next one: after 4-4 you play 5-5, then 6-6, without rolling again. The chain ends at 6-6, or at the first number you cannot play in full. A single 1-1 can be worth up to twenty-four moves.
- Is Gul Bara the same game as Fevga?
- No, but it is a close relative. The board, the starting position and the direction are the same, and a lone checker holds its point here too. Two things differ: there is no head rule — from the start, any number of checkers may leave the head — and doubles escalate. Each player's first three rolls are exempt from the chain.
- Is there hitting in Gul Bara?
- No, no more than in Fevga. A lone checker closes its point completely and there is no bar. Whoever bears off all fifteen checkers first wins — one point, or two if the opponent has borne off none.