Most likely backgammon is the most ancient game, which is still played today. The full history of it is not completely researched but we know that playing backgammon in Greece is mentioned in Homer’s epic poetry, which proves that this tradition exists for thousands of years. Palamidis, the tragic Homer hero is mentioned as an inventor of many board games. But the most important thing is that Palamidis invented the dice and backgammon without dice cannot be played!

Despite this, the official history of the game does not mention Greece or Turkey as cradles of the game. The first piece of information we have is that backgammon was played in ancient Mesopotamia between 2900 and 1800 B.C. During excavations at Ur, the English archeologist Sir Leonard Woolley finds decorated with ornaments board game, which is probably the oldest backgammon board.

Similar game probably existed also in Egypt, which was called “Senet” or the 40 squares game. Both games had a different board than the one of the contemporary backgammon: it had three rows with ten squares next to each other but the philosophy of the game was the same. Each one of the players had five checkers and they were starting from the opposite sides of the board and the goal was take all checkers to the opponent’s side and collect them faster than the other. Instead of dice, the Egyptians used four sticks with two sides and they were moving the checkers depending on the combination of the sides of the sticks.

Another interesting ancient game is the Persian “tekte nard,” which was very similar to today’s backgammon. The board had 24 positions and 30 checkers – 15 white and 15 black, and a set of dice. The name meant “Sticks fight” and was brought to Europe by the Arabs. Later on, the game appears in Greece with the name “pessi” and in the Roman Empire with the name името Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum – the 12 lines game. Those two games have the same board as the oldest one in Mesopotamia, meaning 3 rows and 12 square positions.

During 50 A.D. the game got simpler: the middle row was removed and the board was left with the two end rows; the game allowed for more checkers to be put over each other and this is how the game started looking like the one we know today. We know that the backgammon was taken to England by the Romans or by Richard the Lionheart, who were coming back from crusades. Another similar type of game exists in India and China but they are not influenced by the Western world. The first touch point between the East and West culture is the Arabs and the first game, which introduces the two worlds to each other, is the chess – the perfect strategic game.

Backgammon during the middle ages

During the middle ages the backgammon game is very much known in Europe. It had won itself glory in many European countries. Some of it names are: “Tables” in England, “Tavola Reale” in Italy, “Tablas Reales” in Spain. Despite its popularity in history the game was forbidden by the church in some countries, because it was considered to be a game of luck. During 1254, King Louis IX forbids to all his courtiers to play backgammon and later on he forbids it to all citizens.

The most famous example for banning the game comes during 1526 by cardinal Wolsy from King Henry VIII’s court. He said that all backgammon boards should be burnt. The English could not give up their favorite entertainment and this is how they decided to transform the board in such a way, that it would not seem as a game – they folded it in two so it can look like a book and no one will confiscate it from them and burn it. This type of backgammon remains till this day.