|
Probably one of the oldest games in the world, backgammon – in one form or another – has been played all over the world. It is believed to have its roots in the Persian Empire and it is the oldest known recorded game in history. It has always been played on a board of wood with some form of markers and dice to indicate the pieces of the two opponents and the number of spaces they are allowed to move. This was a game of skill loved by the Ancient Egyptians, Romans, Persians, and Sumerians.
The game has always had ties with the aristocracy of the land and there are relics all over the world that show this. Some of the first boards – found in Rome – were made of leather with thirty markers of ebony and ivory. By the first century AD, the board went from having three lines to two, resembling a board closer to today’s version. The game was known as Tabula back then and was a favorite of the Emperor Claudius. By the sixth century the closest version, called Alea or ‘the art of gambling with dice’ was being played.
It was called Nard in Asia and was played in a similar fashion to Alea. The Asian board represented the months of a year with the twenty-four triangles representing the hours of the day, the checkers the month, and the dice the seven days of week. The contrasting colors are night and day.
All of these variations combined with the Ancient Egyptian game of Senat are all responsible for the game we know today. It survived through the turmoil of the Middle Ages and was even banned up until the time of Elizabeth I because it was considering a gambling game. The current name possibly dates back to 1645 and was derived from the Saxon ‘baec’ (back) and ‘gamen’ (game). It’s also been theorized that the name came from the fact that it can be found on the backs of many chessboards. The rules for backgammon where finalized by Edmond Hoyle in 1743 and has been in effect every since.
Over the last century, the doubling cube was introduced, and some of the rules were modified to represent the current trend of play. It has been popular and unpopular over the years, and between 1960 and 1990, the game became even more popular with the onset of backgammon tournaments. The first online casinos version of the game was created in 1993.
|
