Nard (game)

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Nard (game)

Nard is a historic two-player Persian board game in the family of tables games. It’s often considered an ancestor of backgammon and is still played today in simpler forms.

How it’s played (summary)
- The board has 24 spaces divided into four quarters. Each player has 15 pieces and moves them around the board in opposite directions.
- On your turn you roll dice and move your pieces accordingly. If you land on a point occupied by a single opposing piece, you capture it and send it to the edge (the bar); if a point has two opposing pieces, it’s closed and you can’t land there.
- A captured piece must re-enter the board before you move any of your other pieces.
- If you can’t use a die legally, you lose that die. If you can’t use either die, you miss a turn.
- If you roll doubles, you get extra moves (the exact use of these moves depends on the variant).
- You may only move along open points (a point with two enemy pieces is closed). If you move a piece with both dice, the space you pass over must also be open.
- When all 15 pieces reach your home quadrant, you may bear them off the board. The first player to bear off all their pieces wins.

Variants
- Long Nardy (Nardy / Narde / Narr): the Russian version. Players move counterclockwise, no hitting, and there are special rules for moving pieces off the starting head. The first to bear off all pieces wins.
- Todas Tablas: a medieval Spanish form sometimes linked to backgammon, but with a different starting layout.
- Other notes: some scholars see Nard as the original form of backgammon, while others distinguish the two. A modern Near East version by Botermans has features that some think are closer to the original game.