Welcome
Backgammon as it is played today was not invented in one day but is the
fruit of a long evolution.
This site retraces the history of backgammon through time.
Please, do not hesitate to send me your comments to correct or enrich
this site: fred_ml@yahoo.fr
The Game of
Backgammon is considered as one of the oldest games with go and chess and was
certainly the most geographically widespread.
In Antiquity and
the Middle Ages, numerous games were played on a board of 24 points and were called
"Game of Tables" (See
Bibliography and
Gallery). These various
games were distinguished in particular by the position of the men at the start of play.
The variant of
game of tables that used the same initial position as backgammon appeared in
the Middle Ages under different names depending on the country where it was played :
Todas Tablas in Spain
(in Alfonso X Book of Games), Shuanglu
in China (in Pushuang) and Golaka-Krida in
India (in Manasollasa).
So the initial position of backgammon was known since 12th-13th century.
In Renaissance,
this variant was the most played one in England where it was named
Irish. It was also played in
France under the name
Toutes Tables and in Italy under the name
Totae Tabulae (in latin).
The name
« Backgammon » appeared in 1635 in England (Familiar
Letters).
Backgammon differed only from Irish in playing doublets twice.
The backgammon
rules were not totally codified until the Enlightenment when Edmond Hoyle
wrote a short treatise.
The only missing rule was the doubling cube that was invented USA at the end of
20's (Modern Backgammon).
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The Origin of Backgammon
