Plakoto rules
- Mahbusa
- Плакото
- Πλακωτό
- Тапа
- المحبوسة
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.
- Point 1: 15 × Black
- Point 24: 15 × White
- Pips White: 360
- Pips Black: 360
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.
-
- Point 1: 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 1: 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 1: 13 × Black
- Point 2: 1 × Black
- Point 4: 1 × 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.
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.
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- Point 1: 10 × Black
- Point 5: 4 × Black
- Point 13: 6 × White
- Point 15: 1 × Black
- Point 20: 1 × White
- Point 24: 8 × White
- Pips White: 290
- Pips Black: 330
1 A single black checker stands in the way — and a five brings White exactly there. -
Last move White: 20/15* 13/10
- Point 1: 10 × Black
- Point 5: 4 × Black
- Point 10: 1 × White
- Point 13: 5 × White
- Point 15: 1 × White, under them 1 × Black pinned
- Point 24: 8 × White
- Pips White: 282
- Pips Black: 330
2 White rolls 5–3 and plays 20/15* 13/10.
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.
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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 19: 3 × Black
- Point 20: 3 × Black
- Point 21: 3 × Black
- Point 22: 2 × Black
- Point 23: 2 × Black
- Point 24: 2 × Black
- Borne off White: 6
- Pips White: 36
- Pips Black: 57
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 19: 3 × Black
- Point 20: 3 × Black
- Point 21: 3 × Black
- Point 22: 2 × Black
- Point 23: 2 × Black
- Point 24: 2 × Black
- Borne off White: 8
- Pips White: 25
- Pips Black: 57
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, and two for a lost mother point. There is no triple game and no doubling cube.
The basics of strategy
Pinning beats hitting: a checker that is hit comes back, a checker that is pinned waits until its captor chooses to release it. That makes the opponent's starting point the first address of the opening and your own the first worry — let your last checker be pinned there and you lose two points on the spot. After that, anchors in the opponent's home board are worth more than tempo.
Culture and vocabulary
Plakoto is rarely played on its own: in the kafenío the sequence Πόρτες – Πλακωτό – Φεύγα runs as one bracket, usually to three or five points. Bulgaria calls the game тапа, the Levant محبوسة (mahbusa) — everywhere the same picture that gives it its name: the captured checker lies visibly under the other one and cannot move.
Quick answers
- What happens when a checker is hit?
- It does not leave the board — Plakoto has no bar. The opposing checker sits down on top of it and pins it there for as long as it stays; the prisoner cannot move at all. The moment the checker above moves off, the freed one plays on as if nothing had happened.
- What is the mother point?
- The point all fifteen checkers start on — point 24 of your own path. If your last checker is pinned there, the game ends on the spot and you lose two points. The rule only bites once your opponent has cleared their own mother point.
- What is the difference between Plakoto and Tapa?
- The same game, read two ways. Bulgarian Tapa does not have the mother point rule: there a pinned last checker is a bad position, not an instant end. nard.gg plays Greek Plakoto by default; Tapa can be picked as a rule set when you start a match.