In nardi not every win is worth the same. The game goes to whoever bears off all fifteen checkers first, but the number of points depends on the loser's position: how far behind they were, how many checkers they bore off, and where their checkers were left. In Georgian nardi these three outcomes are called oini, mars and koks. There is no doubling cube, so the value of a game depends on these three outcomes alone.
When a game of nardi ends
A game ends the moment one player bears off their fifteenth checker. Play stops right there: the loser does not get to make any remaining move. It is the position at that moment that is scored: how many checkers the loser has already borne off, whether they have a checker on the bar, and whether any of their checkers stand in the winner's home. The site does the counting itself and shows the result on screen. One thing matters here: the result always depends on the loser's position, not on how easily the winner won. A player who trailed until the last minute can still escape with oini by bearing off one checker in time, while even a close game can end in mars if the loser has not yet brought their checkers home.
Oini, mars and koks: the exact conditions
- Oini: 1 point. The loser bore off at least one checker. One or fourteen, it makes no difference: oini is always one point.
- Mars (marsi): 2 points. The loser bore off no checkers, but has none on the bar and none in the winner's home.
- Koks (koksi): 3 points. The loser bore off no checkers and also has at least one checker on the bar or standing in the winner's home.
- Koks is a harsher form of mars: if the loser has borne off even one checker, koks is impossible, even with a checker on the bar.
What "the winner's home" means
The winner's home is the quarter the winner was bearing off from. For the loser it is the far end of the board, exactly where their two back checkers started. If those checkers stayed trapped there all game, or were hit at the end and could not get back in from the bar, the danger of koks is real. The winner's yard (the middle quarter) does not cause koks: a checker left there, if you have not borne off a single one, only means mars.
Examples with numbers
- Player A has borne off all fifteen checkers. B has borne off three, and the other twelve are in B's home. B bore off at least one: oini, A scores 1 point.
- All of B's checkers are in B's own home, but none has been borne off yet. Nothing on the bar and nothing in A's home: mars, 2 points.
- B has borne off none, and two checkers are still travelling through the yards, outside A's home: also mars, 2 points.
- B has borne off none, and one checker is left on the last point of A's home, where the game started: koks, 3 points.
- B has borne off none, nothing is left in A's home, but one checker is on the bar: also koks, 3 points.
- B has borne off one checker and has another on the bar: oini, 1 point, because a borne-off checker rules out both mars and koks.
A match to 1, 3, 5 or 7 points
When you create a table you choose how many points to play to: 1, 3, 5 or 7. In a one-point match a single game decides everything, whether you win it with oini or with koks. In a longer match games follow one another, the points add up, and the winner is whoever first reaches or passes the chosen number. Extra points count for nothing: the match ends at once. Every new game starts with a fresh one-die opening roll, and whoever rolls higher goes first, so winning the previous game gives no advantage on the first move. In a long match mars and koks swing the score quickly: one koks can cancel out three oinis. That is why watching the score is part of the tactics. If your opponent needs one point to win the match, oini is enough for them, and protecting yourself from mars no longer makes sense; what matters is winning the game itself. If you need two points, mars already wins you the match. Here is how a match to five might go:
- Game one: A wins with oini, 1:0.
- Game two: B wins with koks, 1:3.
- Game three: A wins with mars, 3:3.
- Game four: B wins with oini, 3:4.
- Game five: A wins with mars, 5:4, and A has won the match. Oini would not have been enough: it would have been 4:4 and play would have continued.
Resigning and leaving a game
On tamashebi.cc resigning or leaving the game ends the whole match, not just the current game: your opponent receives as many points as they need to win the match, and the match is theirs. If your connection drops by accident, you have time to come back and carry on from where you stopped; if you cannot return, the match counts as lost. So in a losing game it is better to play on to the end than to resign: you may still escape mars or koks, and in a long match a single point can matter a great deal.
How to avoid mars and koks
When it is clear you are going to lose the game, the goal changes: now the most important thing is to bear off one checker. First get your back checkers out of your opponent's home, because as long as a checker stands there, the danger of koks remains. Then bring everything into your own home as quickly as you can, and inside your home place checkers on the deep points, 1 and 2, so that your next roll bears off a checker with any number. From the other side it is the reverse: if you are ahead and your opponent's checker is trapped in your home, do not hurry to let it out. Koks is three points.
Frequently asked questions
- Do koks and mars count at the same time?
- No. A game has one result: oini (1), mars (2) or koks (3). Koks replaces mars; it is not added to it.
- If the loser has a checker in the winner's yard, is that koks?
- No. For koks the checker has to be on the bar or in the winner's home. A checker left in the yard, if you have not borne off a single one, is mars.
- Does koks change anything in a one-point match?
- Not the result: any win ends a match to one point. But the site still shows you how the game ended.
- How many points does my opponent get if I resign?
- As many as they need to win the match, and at least one. In other words, resigning ends the match.
- Is there doubling (the "davi")?
- No. The game is played by Georgian rules, without a doubling cube: only oini, mars and koks decide what a game is worth.
- Who starts the second game of a match?
- The opening roll decides again: each player rolls one die, and the higher roller plays those two dice. The result of the previous game does not matter.
Nardi on tamashebi.cc is free to play. Some tables use Domino Coin, a virtual in-game coin: it is never money, cannot be bought or cashed out, and means nothing outside the site. The game is for fun and for skill. The site is available in Georgian, English, Russian and Turkish.
The games on Tamashebi.cc are played in a Georgian-language interface. They are free and use a virtual coin, never real money.