User:Bermicourt/Tables games/Révertier

Révertier

Wooden board and counters suitable for Révertier
Other names	Réverquier
Genres	Board game Race game Dice game
Players	2
Chance	Medium (dice rolling)
Skills	Strategy, tactics, counting, probability
Related games: Backgammon, Trictrac, Jacquet

Révertier or Réverquier is an historical French tables game that is similar to Backgammon. A variant of the game is played today under the name of Swedish Tables.

Equipment

The game is played on a tables board with a layout identical to that of Backgammon. It has four quarters (quadrants or tables) each of 6 points. Players sit on opposite sides of the board. The leftmost point on each side is called the 'talon'; the rightmost point is the 'head' (Tête). The nearest side of the board to each player is called the 'outward run' (jeu aller); the far side is the 'return run' (jeu de retour).

Each player has 15 counters (dames), known as pieces or men, one player having white counters and the other black or brown ones. Each player also has a dice cup and there are two dice.

Aim

The aim of Révertier is to win the game in either of two ways:

• By being first to bear off all one's men.
• By creating a situation where one's opponent is unable to move.

Play

Players begin in opposite corners of the board by placing their 15 men on their respective talons. They both 'march' their men anticlockwise from the talon along their outward run, then their return run aiming to gather all 15 men in their fourth quarter.

To decide who goes first, each player rolls one of the dice; the player with the highest pip count on the die wins, picks up the dice and makes the first throw of the game.

On their turn, players move their dice as follows:

• Singletons i.e. the dice have different pip counts. The player may either:
  • Move two men, the first by the value of one die, the second by the value of the other.
  • Move one man by the combined pip count of both dice, ensuring that the man pauses briefly on the intermediate point e.g. if the throw is "5 and 2"; the man must be paused either on the 2nd or 5th points before moving to the 7th point beyond its original position.
• Doublets, i.e. the two dice have the same pip count. This is worth double, so the player scores four times the value of one die and may move up to four men. If a man uses two or more die counts, it must pause on each intermediate point. Doublets are named as in Trictrac. A "One" is called an "Ace".

Once a man is touched, it must be moved unless the player has first announced "I dub" (j'adoube!). Dubbing only permits a player to arrange a man on its point, not to make a move.

Dice

A die throw is good if the die sits flat on the board. It is not good and both dice must be re-rolled if:

• A die ends up off the board or on one of its rails.
• A die is cocked and players do not agree the pip count. If one player insists the die is good, that player may test this by placing another die on top of the cocked die. If the test die slips, the dice must be re-rolled; otherwise the die is good.

Literature

• _ (1715), Le Jeu du Trictrac, Enrichi de Figures Avec les Jeux du Revertier, du Toute-Table, du Tourne-Case, des Dames Rabattues, du Plain, et du Toc., 3rd revised, corrected and expanded edn. Paris: Henry Charpentier (1st edn. 1698 - only Trictrac, 2nd edn. 1701).

External links

• Le jeu de Révertier - early rules at Le Salon des Jeux.

Category:Tables games Category:French board games Category:Race games