Backgammon Dice Names
Sit down at a board in Istanbul, Baku, Tehran or Moscow and you'll hear rolls called out by name: "du-shesh!", "dubara!", "shesh-besh!". These names come from Persian numbers mixed with Turkish ones. Here's what they mean.
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The numbers behind the names
The game came west from Persia, and its roll names still use Persian numbers. Along the way Turkish numbers slipped in, so many names are a mix of both languages. Spellings and pronunciation drift from region to region.
| Number | Persian | Turkish |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | yek | bir |
| 2 | du (do) | iki |
| 3 | se | üç |
| 4 | char (chahar) | dört |
| 5 | panj | beş (besh) |
| 6 | shesh | altı |
Names for doubles
| Roll | Common name | Turkish (tavla) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | varies by region | hep yek | "all ones" |
| 2-2 | dubara | dubara | the same name nearly everywhere |
| 3-3 | du-se | dü se | "two threes" |
| 4-4 | dort-char | dört cihar | Turkish "four" + Persian "four" |
| 5-5 | varies by region (du-besh) | dü beş | "two fives" |
| 6-6 | du-shesh | dü şeş | "two sixes" |
For 1-1 and 5-5 you'll hear different words in different places; the names for 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 6-6 are much more stable. How doubles are played — four moves of the number — is on the doubles page.
Shesh-besh: the most famous roll isn't a double
The best-known name of all is shesh-besh, 6-5. It became so popular that in Israel and the Arab world it's the everyday name of backgammon, and in Russia and the Caucasus a folk name for nardy. More on that: shesh besh.
How the other rolls are named
Every other roll is built from the same number words: the higher number first, then the lower, often with a short linking vowel in between. In Turkish tavla the spellings look like this:
| Roll | Turkish (tavla) | Built from |
|---|---|---|
| 6-1 | şeş-i yek | six + one |
| 6-2 | şeş-i dü | six + two |
| 6-4 | şeş cihar | six + four |
| 5-1 | penc-i yek | five (Persian panj) + one |
| 4-2 | cihar-i dü | four + two |
| 3-1 | se yek | three + one |
Notice that 5 is penc (Persian) in most combinations but beş (Turkish) in 6-5 and 5-5 — that mix is exactly what makes shesh-besh sound the way it does. Spoken forms drift even more than written ones: the same 6-1 can sound like "shesh-yek" in one town and "shesh-yak" in the next, so treat any list as a guide, not a rulebook. Even 6-6 has a second name in places: shesh-gosha, "six-pair", from the Azerbaijani word qoşa.
Which named rolls matter most
- Du-shesh (6-6) moves 24 points in one turn — the biggest single roll in a race.
- In long nardy, du-shesh, dort-char and du-se are special on the very first move: with 6-6, 4-4 or 3-3 you may take two checkers off the head instead of one.
Each particular double comes up once in 36 rolls on average, and some double or other once in six.
"Düşeş" in everyday Turkish
In Turkish, düşeş — double six — has moved from the tavla table into ordinary speech: a stroke of luck, a windfall, an opportunity too good to miss. You'll find more about the Turkish game on the tavla page.
Calling rolls on NARDEON
The game shows the dice, not their names — but nothing stops you shouting "du-shesh!" at your screen. For the rest of the vocabulary — blot, prime, mars, the head — see the backgammon and nardy glossary, and for how the dice themselves work, the dice rules.
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FAQ
What is du-shesh in backgammon?
Double six, 6-6. Du means two and shesh means six in Persian. It's the biggest roll in the game: four moves of 6.
What does dubara mean?
Double two, 2-2. It's one of the few names that is the same practically everywhere.
What is shesh-besh?
The 6-5 roll: shesh is six in Persian, besh is five in Turkish. It's also a popular name for backgammon itself in Israel and the Arab world.
What are the tavla dice names in Turkish?
Hep yek (1-1), dubara (2-2), dü se (3-3), dört cihar (4-4), dü beş (5-5) and dü şeş (6-6); 6-5 is şeş beş.
Do I need to know dice names to play?
No. They're a tradition, not a rule — the game works the same with plain numbers. But calling the roll is half the fun at a real table.
Updated: October 24, 2026