Backgammon, one of the most played online games is an old game with a long history. The origin of backgammon is said to be in Mesopotamia, specifically from the Persian Empire. The game is the oldest known board game throughout history and can be retraced from thousands of years BC. Backgammon is usually played on flat surfaces like wood, with stones as the distinguishing symbol of each players and dice from stones, bones, pottery or even wood.
Backgammon’s history was a grand one, as it is said that the ones who usually played it are the aristocrats and leaders of ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia. Such rich history is supported by relics and literatures which are in reference to Persia, Rome, Greece and the Far East. One of the relics found is known as The Royal Games of Ur. It is a wooden board with a tetrahedral dice discovered from the royal tomb of the Ur al Chaldees (Sumer’s center), dated around 2600 BC. There was also a cuneiform tablet found that is identified to be made about 177 BC which is believed to be the set of rules at that time for the backgammon game.
The backgammon game’s first citation in English was published in The Codex Exoniensis (1025) as Nard or “Tables”. The game was carried on by the people in English taverns and is big and popular all throughout the middle ages. It was known under various names at different countries. It was known as Tavla by Turks, Tavola Reale by Italians, Tric Trac by Frenchmen, Tavli by Greeks, and Backgammon or Tables by British. However, it was prohibited for a time because of its gambling nature.
The term “Backgammon” is said to be coined in 1645 and is derived from either baec (back), gamen (game) by the Saxons or from bac or bach (little), gammon or cammaun (battle) by the Welsh; the first being more likely. Another theory running around its name origin was it was named such because the game’s board was frequently found at the “back” of chessboards but this too is improbable. In 1743, the rules and regulations of the game were organized into a code or system by Edmond Hoyle though his Treatise on Backgammon game—the first official set of modern Backgammon game rules in existence.