Georgian games rarely exist on their own — they belong to the supra, the courtyard, the summer house and the long evening. Ask what Georgians play at the table and the answer is almost always the same: Nardi, domino and cards — Joker, Bura, Seka. These games are known in many countries, but in Georgia each has its own rules, its own words and its own place. Here, briefly, is what each one is, who plays it and when, and why the tradition is still alive today — now on screens as well.
The table tradition
A Georgian game needs two things: a table and company. Playing is a pretext for talking — players are rarely silent, and there is almost always an audience. Someone keeps score, someone offers advice nobody asked for, someone gets angry on the loser's behalf. That is why Georgian games are mostly built for two or four people and fit around a single table.
The second feature is local rules. Many families and neighbourhoods had their own small rule, agreed before the game: how points are counted, what happens on a blocked board, how long a match lasts. So two Georgians about to play the same game often argue about the rules first — and that is part of the game too.
Nardi
Nardi is the courtyard game above all. A wooden board on a balcony or under a tree, the rattle of dice and the click of checkers — for many people this picture is part of childhood. Nardi is for two and blends luck with calculation: the dice decide a single game, but over a long match the experienced player almost always comes out ahead. The language of the Georgian table has kept Persian words from Nardi: the numbers on the dice are still called yaki, du, se, chari, panji, shashi. The most common form is short nardi, with hitting and the bar; long nardi is widely played too.
Domino
Domino belongs to the summer house, the holiday and the quiet evening — although the slap of a tile on the table makes it the noisiest game of all. Georgian domino has its own face: the first double of a hand, the stavka, opens on four sides, points are written only in multiples of five, and a blocked board is called a riba. So Georgian domino is about counting — every move is a search for a way to make the ends of the line add up to a multiple of five. It is usually played by two, to an agreed score.
Words that tell you it is a Georgian table
- Shash-besh, du-shash, dor-char — pairs of dice in Nardi, called out loud by the player.
- Mars and koks — a double and a triple win in Nardi; oini is the ordinary one.
- Stavka — the first double in domino, opening on four sides. Despite the word, it has nothing to do with a bet.
- Riba — a blocked domino board, when nobody can move.
- Khishti — in Joker, taking none instead of what you bid.
- Koziri — the trump suit in Bura and Joker, beating every other suit.
Card games — Joker, Bura, Seka
Cards at the Georgian table come down to three main games, each with a different character.
- Joker — a long, tense game for four. A 36-card deck with two jokers, a bid every hand — how many tricks you will take — and a score sheet that fills up all evening. Khishti, premia and moshla are the words that give a Joker player away. For two, there is Japanese Joker.
- Bura — a fast trump game. The cards carry points — ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2 — and to win a hand you must collect enough points and claim them in time. Three-card and five-card Bura are both played, and four people play it in pairs. Bura fits into a short break.
- Seka — a three-card game where the points of cards of one suit are added up and judging your combination is everything. The strongest hand is three cards of the same rank.
The differences between the three are covered in detail in two articles: a comparison of Joker, Bura and Seka, and a separate look at Bura versus Seka.
Games and generations
In a Georgian family, a game is often one of the first things an older person teaches a younger one, alongside reading and writing. A child first counts domino tiles, then learns the names of the Nardi dice, and as a teenager sits down at the Joker table — first as a spectator, later as the fourth player. So these games bind generations: a grandfather and grandson know the same board and use the same words, even if they disagree about everything else.
Who picks what — a simple scheme
- Two people and a quiet evening — Nardi or domino.
- Four friends and plenty of time — Joker.
- Two of you who want cards — Japanese Joker or Bura.
- A short break — Bura, or Nardi to one point.
- Several generations of a family together — domino: the rules are short and children pick them up quickly.
One thing unites them all: none is played in silence. In Nardi the dice are called out, in domino the score is counted aloud, in Joker the bid is heard by the whole table. A game is a way of being together — which is why Georgians use it to entertain a guest and as an ordinary part of a family evening.
From tradition to online
The Georgian game always had one problem: you need company. One person for Nardi, three for Joker — and exactly when you are free. Online play solves it: there is always an opponent, and a friend in another city or another country gets a link and sits down at your table.
On tamashebi.cc these games follow Georgian rules: stavka and riba in domino, oini, mars and koks in Nardi, khishti and premia in Joker. Nardi also uses a rule common at Georgian tables — hit in your own home and your checker stays there for the rest of the turn. The server counts the points, so there are no arguments about the rules. Nardi, domino, Joker, Japanese Joker and Bura are open, and Seka is in preparation. Nothing replaces a wooden board and a courtyard audience, but when there is no partner in the courtyard, the screen is a good answer.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the most popular Georgian game?
- There are no exact statistics, but Nardi, domino and Joker are known in almost every family. Among card games, Joker is the best known.
- Are Georgian Nardi and backgammon the same?
- They belong to the same family and use the same board, but Georgian short nardi differs in scoring and in some rules.
- Where can I play Georgian games online?
- On tamashebi.cc, Nardi, domino, Joker, Japanese Joker and Bura are free in the browser. Seka will follow.
- All games
- Georgian board and card games
- The history of board games in Georgia
- Bura or Seka: the differences
- Joker, Bura or Seka: three games compared
- Play Nardi online
- Play domino online
- Play Joker online
- Play Japanese Joker online
Every game on tamashebi.cc is free. Domino Coin is a virtual in-game coin: it is never money, cannot be bought, transferred or cashed out, and means nothing outside the site. There are no real-money stakes, top-ups or payments of any kind.
The games on Tamashebi.cc are played in a Georgian-language interface. They are free and use a virtual coin, never real money.