The modernd history of the game begins in 1025AD;Backgammon was first played in the taverns of England during ...
Backgammon is a very popular board game that involves a number of strategies for winning. People have played this game down the ages and the history of the game is an interesting one.The game dates back to the Persian Empire and it is one of the oldest board games that have been around in recorded history. There are references of this game in the written records of Rome, The Far East and Greece.
Evidence dates back to 5000 years and can be traced in the Iranian City called Shahr-e-Sukhteh. The evidence found here includes an ebony board that is rectangular in shape with pieces of agate and turquoise. Dice was also discovered as well. This board was a bit more elaborate than the boards that are found today. This board has a serpent interwoven throughout the board completing the 20 game slots. In the modern board games there are 24 game slots. Some of the artifacts cover sixty pieces which is more than the number of artifacts played with today. There are 30 now. This board game implies that the rules are somewhat different from the backgammon game played today.
There was a game played in Egypt called senat that involved a large number of boards that were of different sizes. The evidence of this game dates back to 3000 to 1788 BC. The rules of this game are not yet known. During the first century Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum derived from senat was transformed into a variation of about two rows that contained twelve points each. In the 6th century Alea surfaced and the games came to be known as tabula. This was a term used for every board game.
The modern history of the game begins in 1025 AD and it was known as “Nard” or Tables. This game was first played in the taverns of England during the Middle Ages. In the 15th Century the popularity of this board game declined with Chess taking over. Backgammon had to be banned for a phase as gambling was generally done with it. This was during the rule of Elizabeth the First. Backgammon had been known by several names during its history.
The term “backgammon” came into existence in about 1645. It is believed that this term originated from the Saxon “baec” which meant back and “gamen” which meant game. The doubling cube is believed to have been added to the game in 1920. This enhanced the skills taken for the game. This was a time when it was played by the upper class segments of society. In 1931 the rules of backgammon changed and new ones emerged. This new rule is the same ones that are applied to the rulers of the USA today.
Backgammon since then has evolved into a widely sought after and popular game. Today this popular game involves computers and there are a number of websites available on the internet to buy backgammon equipment. There are websites where gamers can play backgammon online however some traditional gamers still love to play with the physical board even till now!