Dragons who played xorvintaal were called taaldarax (pl. taaldaraxi).

A dragon's
head servant was known as his or her "lovac", and his or her other servants were
known as "dokaal". Xorvintaal was like a chess game, as players had to defeat their
opponents with strategy instead of combat. Dragons who played xorvintaal took great
pains to not be discovered by others, as well.

There were hundreds of rules, called Precepts. Brimstone said that to read the
entire codex of rules would take a few years, and even Alasklerbanbastos admitted
he didn't fully understand all the rules. The rules were so complicated that it was
rare for the less intelligent races of dragons, such as the whites, to play the
game.[6]

The most important rule was that "to gain, first you must lose"; thus all
taaldaraxi lost what magic they had in order to play the game.[2] Another rule
forbade players from acting against each other directly; instead they must use
their servants against their opponents.[3][7] The rules did not forbid combat in
all circumstances, however; if a challenge for combat was issued and both players
agreed, the taaldarax could battle one another, and their servants were bound to
fight as well.[1][8]

Points were scored based on conquest or by killing key opponents, although players
also scored points by showing great skills of subterfuge, daring or renown.[9]
Points scored in the game were used to determine the pecking order of dragons.[1]

The rules of xorvintaal were so attractive for draconic minds because they were
created under a purely draconic point of view, with a great emphasis on complexity
and subterfuge that dragons enjoyed. This had a negative side, however, as most
dragons that played xorvintaal, even just once, were under the risk of becoming
addicted to the game.[10][11]

Because of that draconic point of view, the rules were difficult to grasp for non-
dragon creatures, such as humans.[12] The knowledge humans had from the xorvintaal
was usually contradictory and not even close to the actual rules of the game. At
least one book, A History of Draconic Interactions, made the xorvintaal look as if
was a game of dragons trying to outwit their rivals and kill each other, and that
the governments of many nations, the priesthoods of many gods, and even shadowy
organizations were all involved somehow with the taaldaraxi. According to
Clytemorrenestrix, the book not only was wrong about the rules, but it actually
made the game look illogical, at least from the perspective of dragons.