Step 1 · No hits, just pins
Plakoto is a Tavli variant where a lone opposing checker is not hit to the bar. You trap it underneath your checker.
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Step 2 · What happens on a blot?
White can land on a single Black checker. In Plakoto, what happens to that Black checker?
Choose the Plakoto contact rule.
Quick check
- It becomes pinned underneath White
- It goes to the bar
- It blocks White completely
Show the correct answer
Correct answer: It becomes pinned underneath White — Correct. The pinned checker cannot move until White leaves.
- It goes to the bar — That is standard backgammon. Plakoto replaces hits with pins.
- It blocks White completely — A lone Black checker cannot stop White — it gets trapped instead. Only a point with two or more Black checkers, or one where Black already holds a pin, blocks White.
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Step 3 · Make the pin
Use the 3 to land on the lone Black checker. The board records it as a pin, not a hit.
Use the 3: tap the highlighted White checker, then tap Land here on the lone Black checker.
The roll: 3-1
The move: 20/17
Pinned. The Black checker is trapped underneath.
Common mistake: Land exactly on the highlighted lone Black checker to make the pin.
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Step 4 · Play the 1 too
The pin used the three. Now play the one: bring a new checker off your big stack. The pin stays locked while the rest of your army keeps moving.
Use the 1: tap the highlighted stack, then tap Land here one point ahead.
The roll: 3-1
The move: 24/23
Both dice played, and the pin never moved.
Common mistake: The 1 is still unplayed. Move a checker from the big stack one point forward.
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Step 5 · Pinned checkers wait
A pinned checker stays frozen until every opposing checker on top leaves that point. Pinning the starting checker can even decide a game.
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What you learned
You can now explain Plakoto contact and make a legal pin that freezes an enemy checker until you move away.
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