About Tavli.net

What Is Tavli.net

Tavli.net is a free website for Greek tavli. You can play all three variants — Portes, Plakoto and Fevga — directly in your browser, against the computer or online with a friend via a shared room link. No registration, no account, no app download.

Alongside the game there is a library of guides: rules for each variant, strategy for beginner and intermediate players, a glossary of terms, and board setup guides. All content is written by us, in both Greek and English.

Why We Built It

Tavli is one of the most beloved games in Greece — played in every kafeneio, on every beach, at every family gathering. Online, though, the options for the Greek variants were limited: most platforms offer only international backgammon, require registration, or hide the game behind subscriptions.

We wanted a site where you simply open your browser and within 5 seconds you are playing Plakoto or Fevga — the variants we actually play in Greece — with zero friction. That is Tavli.net.

How It Is Built

The game is not an off-the-shelf third-party package: the rules of all three variants (hitting and the bar in Portes, pinning in Plakoto, the first-checker rule in Fevga) are implemented in our own code, written and maintained by us. The computer opponent (AI) is ours too, continuously improved through automated testing across thousands of games.

The guides are written from the rules as actually played in Greece, and the board diagrams are generated by the game engine itself — they are not stock images.

The site is built to load fast from anywhere, on mobile and desktop.

Free, for Everyone

Tavli.net is and will remain free: no premium subscriptions, no paywall, no locked features. To cover running costs, the site may show unobtrusive ads — but never intrusive pop-ups and never ads that interrupt your game.

If you have ideas, feedback, or found a bug, we would love to hear from you — see the contact page.