Plakoto rules
Plakoto is the second game of the Greek tavli trio, played in Bulgaria as tapa and in the Levant as mahbusa. Board and race are backgammon's — the two sides run in opposite directions — but nothing is ever hit: a lone checker is pinned under yours instead, and that one change makes it a different game.
The starting position.
The starting position
Each player starts with all fifteen checkers on the point furthest from home: the opponent's one-point, the mother (μάνα). From there they run the whole way round, in opposite directions, into their own home board.
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, opposite directions, doubles four times — and the duty to play every number you legally can, the higher one if only one fits. A point with two or more opposing checkers is closed; so is a point where a single opposing checker sits on top of one of yours.
Pinning instead of hitting
Landing on a lone opposing checker pins it: your checker sits down on top, and the one underneath cannot move for as long as anything of yours stands on it. You may stack more of your own on top, and the point is yours — the opponent cannot land there. A pinner can never be pinned in turn.
The moment your last checker leaves, the prisoner is free and plays on as if nothing had happened. Nothing is ever sent back and nothing starts over — plakoto has no bar.
The mother point
If your last checker on your own starting point is pinned, the game ends on the spot and you lose two points. The rule only bites once the opponent has cleared their own starting point — in the opening both mothers are equally exposed, and the game should not hang on who rolls first. Bulgarian tapa plays without this rule; nard.gg plays the Greek game, with it.
Bearing off
Once all fifteen are in your home board — and none of your checkers is pinned anywhere — you bear off: each number takes a checker from the point it names, a higher number from the highest occupied point. A pinned checker stops the bear-off even when it is pinned inside your own home board. Bearing off is never compulsory.
Scoring
One point for the win — two if the loser has borne off nothing, and two for a lost mother point. There is no triple game and no doubling cube.
No account, no cookie prompt — you are playing in five seconds.