Backgammon to bear off all of one's checkers, was also the same. Hitting a blot, reentering a piece from the bar, and bearing off, all followed the modern rules. The only differences with modern backgammon were the use of an extra die (three rather than two) and the starting of all pieces off the board (with them entering in the same way that pieces on the bar enter in modern backgammon). The name τάβλη is still used for backgammon in Greece, where it is frequently played in town plateias and cafes. The epigram of Zeno describes a particularly bad dice roll
Backgammon can block a point. There is no hitting in long nardi. The objective of the game is bearing all checkers off the board. There is no doubling cube.<br> "Tάβλη (tavli)" meaning "table" or "board" in Byzantine Greek, is the oldest game with rules known to be nearly identical to backgammon; it is described in an epigram of Byzantine Emperor Zeno (AD 476–491). The board was the same with 24 points, 12 on each side. As today, each player had 15 checkers and used cubical dice with sides numbered one to six. The object of the game, to be the first