The Traditional Board Game Series Leaflet #43: Tablan

TABLAN
home row must be occupied in or- cupation of the last row more diffi- by Damian Walker
der, starting with the furthest cult, and lengthens the game.
square. Pieces stay much longer in play,
21. Other moves onto the last and are therefore more prone to
row are therefore not allowed. capture, and pieces on a player’s
This variation makes initial oc- home row are a little bit safer.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further information on the game of tablan can be gained from the following
books.
Bell, R. C. Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations, vol. 1,
pp. 87-89. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1979.
Bell, R. C. The Boardgame Book, pp. 58-59. London: Marshall Cav-
endish Ltd., 1979.
Bell, R. C. Discovering Old Board Games, pp. 61-63. Aylesbury:
Shire Publications, Ltd., 1980.
Bell, R. C. Games to Play, pp. 26-27. London: Michael Joseph Ltd.,
1988.
Parlett, D. The Oxford History of Board Games, pp. 133 & 229-230.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Copyright © Damian Walker 2011 - http://boardgames.cyningstan.org.uk/

Illustration 3: scores given by the various

throws. Any but null scores allows another Board Games at CYNINGSTAN
throw after moving. Traditional Board Game Series
(Second Edition)
4 Leaflet #43
 The Traditional Board Game Series Leaflet #43: Tablan The Traditional Board Game Series Leaflet #43: Tablan

thest row. The path is shown in Il- pieces; only one may sit in any
INTRODUCTION & HISTORY lustration 2. square.
There is a class of games known as from India, of unknown antiquity. 6. Note that the courses of the 13. A throw must be used in
running fight games, in which two It is apparently related to a smaller, two players follow slightly different full unless there is no way of doing
players advance towards each other but more complex, game called tab, lines, and opposing pieces therefore so. Otherwise it is lost.
on a straight course according to the which was first described in the move alongside each other in the 14. Having moved a piece, the
throw of dice or casting sticks. But west in 1694. Whether tablan is the same direction on each row of the player throws again and moves or
instead of being a race, the winner ancestor or descendant of tab is not board. passes according to rule 8 onwards.
of a running fight game is decided currently known. 7. The player who threw a 1 at
Capturing Enemies
by the capture of pieces when the According to R. C. Bell, tablan the start of the game makes his first
game ends. was still being played in the villages move according to this throw; sub- 15. If a piece comes to land on
Tablan is a running fight game. in Mysore, southwest India, in the sequent moves by either player re- an enemy, the enemy piece is cap-
Although the board is two-dimen- second half of the twentieth cen- quire a further throw of the casting tured and removed from the game.
sional, it represents a single track tury. It has been made known in the sticks. 16. A player cannot capture an
which has been folded in on itself. west partly by Bell's own books. 8. The sticks are scored accord- enemy piece on his home row; how-
The game is a traditional one ing to the number of plain sides ever, his own pieces on that row
showing: one scores 2 points, two may themselves be captured.
HOW TO PLAY or three score nothing, four score 8
Ending the Game
and none (i.e. all marked sides up)
Tablan is played by two players on (see Illustration 1).
score twelve. See Illustration 3. 17. The game is finished when
a board of four rows of twelve 3. Players throw the casting
9. On scoring nothing, a player one of the players has moved all his
squares, each player beginning the sticks alternately, counting the plain
ends his turn and passes the casting remaining pieces to the last row of
game with twelve pieces of his col- sides showing; the player who
sticks to his opponent. the board.
our. Four casting sticks influence throws 1 starts the game.
10. On any other score, a player 18. Each player scores points
the course of the game, each having
Moving the Pieces may do one of the following: equal to the number of pieces he has
one side marked and the other plain.
(i). move a single piece along moved onto the last row, i.e. the en-
4. Pieces are moved according
Beginning the Game the course by the number of squares emy's home row.
to the throw of the casting sticks,
equal to his score (2, 8 or 12); 19. The winner of the game is
1. Players sit opposite each oth- along a set course.
(ii). move two pieces along the the player who has the most pieces
er, each taking the row of squares 5. For each player the course
course, each by half his score (1, 4 on his enemy;s home row.
closest to him as his home row. starts at the left of his home row,
or 6).
2. The game starts with all moving right along it, progressing
11. A piece that has moved to Variation
pieces on the to the second row
any square on the Some extra op-
board, each player then moving left,
last row ends its tional rules change
having his twelve then moving right
journey and can- the flavour of the
pieces lined up, again along the
not move further. game.
one in each square third row, and left
12. There is 20. Squares
of his home row Illustration 1: tablan board and pieces set again on the fur- Illustration 2: the direction of movement for
out for play. no doubling up of each player, starting from the home row. on the enemy

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