We love our backgammon ‘round these parts. We call it ‘tavli’ and we play it just about everywhere. Go to the beach—people playing tavli. Go to the park—pappoudes (that’s ‘grandpas’) playing tavli. Cafes? Tavli. And we Greeks, we’re a lively bunch. There’s usually a lot of teasing involved and, occasionally, shouting. I’ve even witnessed a player throwing a board across the room after a particularly frustrating throw of the dice. It wasn’t me. I swear…
Just about every home has a board and they come in all different colors and sizes. Some are pretty plain while others include intricate designs, carvings and pearl inlay. And then there are these handcrafted boards from Alexandra Llewellyn Design. Now I’ve seen many boards, but never anything like these beauties. Perhaps that has something to do with their hefty price tags (we’re talking a whopping 2000 British pounds), but they are truly works of art. And while I’ll probably never own one, they sure are nice to look at.
Sure makes me want to play a round or two…
Until soon,
E
wandering muses 
I liked your post. Is it common to play Backgammon with a doubling cube in Greece?
Um. If by doubling cube you mean dice, then…why yes it is! 😉
Sorry for the confustion. The doubling cube looks like a die but has the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. Some people play to win a match you need to win 7 games. So if they think they are going to win they offer to make a.game worth two games. It is similar to a raise in poker. The cube is used to keep track of how many times this was done in during a game.
No they don’t! But it sounds amazing, and you better believe I’m going to find myself one of those and use it to spice up my game this summer. Thanks for the info.