Tavli: Fair Dice Offline

Tavli is Greek backgammon as it is played at every kafeneio table: three games on one board, Portes, Plakoto and Fevga, and a match that rotates through all three. Here you play them against the computer at three levels, with no internet connection and no account needed to play, and after every game you can check that the dice were fair. PORTES The game most players already know. Hit a lone checker and it goes to the bar; two or more checkers close a point. Bring all fifteen home and bear them off first. A win scores 1 point, or 2 if your opponent has not borne off a single checker. PLAKOTO Nobody is hit in Plakoto. Land on a lone enemy checker and you pin it: it stays under yours and cannot move until you leave the point. While one of your own checkers is pinned, you cannot bear off. Pin the mother, the last checker on your opponent's starting point, to win 2 points; if both mothers are pinned, the game is a draw. FEVGA Both players race the same way around the board, and there is no hitting at all: a single checker already holds a point. Your first checker must pass your opponent's starting point before any other may move. Six points in a row are not allowed in your own starting quarter or right in front of your opponent's start, and whenever you can, you must leave your opponent a move. THE ROTATION MATCH Portes, then Plakoto, then Fevga, round after round, until someone reaches 3, 5 or 7 points. The winner of each game starts the next one. Prefer one game? Play Portes, Plakoto or Fevga on its own, in matches of 1, 3, 5 or 7 points. DICE YOU CAN CHECK A secret key fixes all the dice of a game before the first roll. It comes from your phone's secure random-number generator, and its seal code is on screen from the start. When the game ends, the key is revealed, and "Check the dice" confirms that it matches the seal and produced every roll. The same check works outside the app with any HMAC-SHA256 tool. • The dice log keeps every roll of both players, with the moves. • The computer never sees your next roll, and the level you pick never touches the dice. • Dice statistics set your rolls beside what random dice give, including how often a roll could hit or pin. YOUR OPPONENT Easy makes looser moves on purpose. Normal and Hard play with a neural network, a separate one for each of the three games, and Hard also looks one roll ahead and plays to the match score. Stuck? A hint shows a suggested move, worked out from the board and your dice alone. A TABLE FROM THE KAFENEIO Two boards: Kafeneio, bottle-green enamel with brass corners around a marble field, and Aegean, whitewashed wood with sea-blue paint. The board fills the landscape screen, with big checkers and clear dice. • Checkers that can move glow, and circles show where they can go. Tap, drag or double-tap. • Undo a move until you press Done. • Checker size and colour, point numbers, pip counts, game speed, reduced motion. • In Fevga, a path guide shows the way both sides travel. • The opening: by default the starter rolls again; in Settings, the first roll can count instead, as in tournament play. ALSO INCLUDED • An unfinished match is saved and waits for you with the same dice. • Practice games: enter a dice code, and that code always deals the same dice. Practice games are not ranked. • Statistics for each game: wins, double wins, mothers, draws and win streaks. • Weekly and all-time rankings of wins, under a nickname you choose from a list. Rankings need a connection; playing does not. • 13 languages: Ελληνικά, English, Deutsch, Français, Italiano, Español, Português, Türkçe, Русский, Bahasa Indonesia, हिन्दी, 日本語, 한국어.

First release! • Three games on one board: Portes, Plakoto and Fevga • The rotation match: all three in turn, to 3, 5 or 7 points • A computer opponent at Easy, Normal and Hard • Every game's dice are sealed before the first roll and can be checked after it • Plays offline, no sign-up needed • 13 languages