Backgammon History
When a couple of friends sit down and open up a backgammon board it is hard to imagine that the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt had a similar pastime over 5000 years ago. Backgammon is honoured with the title of being the world’s oldest board game since artefacts were found dating back to Ancient civilizations.
Backgammon originates from an ancient game called Senat which was played by the royalty of Ancient civilizations. The oldest Senat boards are dated at between 3000 – 1788 BCE and were excavated in the royal tomb at the Ur of Chaldees. Other senat boards were also found in Mesopotamia and in King Tutankhamen’s tomb in the Nile valley.
The game was also popular in Roman times and this is proven by the fact that backgammon is mentioned in the writings of Homer, Sophocles and Plato. Backgammon was known as LDS (Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum) in Roman times, meaning the game of twelve lines, was played on a leather board and had 15 markers of each color.
During the beginning of the first century CE, LDS was replaced by another game called Tabula, which was still very similar to modern day backgammon. The game’s board used 2x12 lines instead of 3x12 lines and made its way to the British soil during Roman territorial conquests. Tabula’s popularity spread thanks to Emporor Claudius who is believed to have been a great lover of the game and to have written documents about its roots and rules. Claudius is also responsible for a wave of gambling mania that took hold of Rome during his rule.
During the 6th century, Tabula was transformed into Alea, meaning the ‘art of gambling with dice’, and its board was much closer to today’s backgammon board.
Asian discovered the joys of backgammon in the 9th century with the rise in popularity of a game called Nard. This game, which was similar to Alea, required a player to move 30 checkers around a board with the help of two dice. Relics of the game and ancient pieces have been discovered in South East Asia, near Persia and as far flung as Chinese and Japanese territories.
During the Middle Ages, backgammon made its way to the European continent after the Arabs conquered Italy. The game was spread through soldiers and traders and despite the Church’s best efforts to outlaw it, its fame continued to grow. Players learned to adapt their habits and found that they could play on a board scratched in stone or soil, and from dice which were quickly carved up – a perfect travel game.
The first official record of backgammon in British territory was written in the Codex Exoniensis in 1025. It was referred to as “Tables” and was a much loved game in English taverns. The game continued to spread in popularity during the Middle Ages and in 1743, it received its own official documentation by Edward Hoyle when he published a work on backgammon. This Treatise of Backgammon was like a Bible for backgammon players during the 18th and 19th centuries as it had documented the game’s origins, history and rules.
Modern era of backgammon was launched in the 1920s when the doubling cube was brought in, in New York City. During the late 1960s backgammon was raised to international heights following the World Championships in Monte Carlo. The 1970s were termed the heyday of backgammon and several books were published during this period.
The online backgammon era is now in full swing and the computerization of the game has introduced backgammon to millions of people around the globe. A game which is so much fun deserves to be played by millions.
