By Valentin Updated tavla play online variants
You can play tavla online for free in Orion on iPhone, iPad and Android, against real players, on the same board with the same moves, and with a mars counted double. Every roll can be checked after the game at orion.arthea.ai/verify, so you never have to wonder whether the dice were fair.
Orion plays the rules of international backgammon, the version used in tournaments everywhere, and in Türkiye the app is listed on both stores as Orion Tavla. Most of what you know from the kahvehane carries over unchanged. A few details differ, and this page names each of them so nothing surprises you at the table.
Is tavla the same game as backgammon?
Almost. Tavla is the Turkish name for backgammon: fifteen checkers (pul) each, twenty four points, the same starting position, the same direction of travel, hitting a lone checker (kırmak) and sending it to the bar, and bearing off (pul toplamak) once all fifteen are home. A player who knows tavla can sit down at a backgammon board anywhere and play from the first roll.
The differences are in the scoring and in a few customs, and the list below is all of them.
How do Orion's rules compare with tavla at the kahvehane?
- Mars: a mars (gammon), when the loser has not borne off a single checker, counts double in Orion, exactly as in tavla.
- Backgammon: when the loser also still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board, Orion counts it triple, as international rules do. Many tavla games stop at the mars; some tables call this a double mars and count it as three.
- Doubling cube: traditional tavla is played without one. Orion has the doubling cube. You never have to offer a double, but your opponent may offer one, and then you choose to take it or pass.
- Opening roll: in Orion each player rolls one die and the higher number moves first, playing both of those dice. In many tavla games the winner of the opening roll rolls again instead.
- Hitting at home: in some tavla circles you may not hit a checker in your own home board and then move the hitting checker on with the same roll. Orion follows international rules, which allow it.
If you learned at a café, the cube is the one real adjustment. It takes a few games to get used to and it makes every match more interesting, because a game you are losing can be given up for one point before it becomes a mars. The doubling cube guide explains when to take and when to pass.
Where do you play tavla online in Orion?
Install Orion, called Orion Tavla in the Turkish stores, and you are playing within a minute, with no account to create first. The app gives you three ways to find a game against real players:
- Arenas: coin tables in twelve destinations, from the Tangier Café to Istanbul Bosphorus and on to Orion itself, each with its own handmade board and its own music.
- League: a ranked ladder of ten leagues, from Driftwood to Orion, with trophies that start from zero each season.
- Weekend Masters: a tournament every weekend, from Friday 16:00 UTC (19:00 in Istanbul) to Monday 00:00 UTC, with live standings and a guaranteed prize pool in gems.
You can also add friends and challenge them privately, or join a club with its own chat. The interface is in Turkish, one of the 44 languages the app speaks, and the rolls keep their own names whatever the language: şeş beş is still 6 and 5, hep yek is still a double one.
How can you check that the dice are fair?
Orion's dice are provably fair. Before the first roll the server publishes a SHA-256 commitment to a secret seed. Every roll is computed from that seed with HMAC-SHA256, and when the game ends the seed is revealed. Paste the game ID into the verifier at orion.arthea.ai/verify and your own browser recomputes every roll and checks it against the commitment published before the game began.
That matters more in tavla than in most games, because the most common complaint about any online tavla is that the dice seem to know what you need. With a commitment published before the game, you do not have to argue about it. You check it.
Is it free, and is there real money involved?
Orion is free to play. There are no ads today and no advertising SDK in the app. Coins and gems are virtual: they can be earned in play and bought in the shop, but they have no cash value, there are no cash prizes, and nothing can be withdrawn. It is a game of tavla, not a betting site.
Where can you read the rules in Turkish?
We wrote two guides directly in Turkish rather than translating them: Tavla nasıl oynanır, the complete rules with the Turkish terms, at orion.arthea.ai/tr/news/tavla-nasil-oynanir, and Tavla dizimi, the starting position checker by checker, at orion.arthea.ai/tr/news/tavla-dizimi. In English, the rules page covers the international game from scratch, and the Learn page lists every guide in reading order.
Frequently asked questions about playing tavla online
Can I play tavla online without the doubling cube?
Not as a separate mode. Orion plays one rule set, the international one, and the cube is part of it. You can simply never offer a double; if your opponent doubles you, you decide whether to take or pass.
Does Orion count a mars?
Yes. A mars, called a gammon in English, counts double. A backgammon, where the loser still has a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board, counts triple.
Is Orion Tavla the same app as Orion Backgammon?
Yes. Orion Tavla is the name the app carries in the Turkish stores. It is the same game, the same players and the same tables as Orion Backgammon everywhere else.
Can I play tavla with a friend online?
Yes. Add them as a friend in the app and send a private challenge, or join the same club and play from there.
Does Orion have other variants, like Greek plakoto or long nardy?
No. Orion plays the international game only. Long nardy, plakoto, fevga and acey-deucey are separate games with their own rules, and we explain them in our variant guides without pretending they are modes in the app.
Play tavla online in Orion: free on iPhone, iPad and Android, and every roll checkable at orion.arthea.ai/verify.