Backgammon History

Backgammon is one of the most ancient gambling games known to men. There is archeological evidence dating it back at least 5000 years to the days when ancient Egypt was the biggest superpower in the world. However the game itself is even older and dates back to 3000BC.

It originated from ancient Mesopotamia in South East Asia where the game was called Senat and it bares much resemblance to the modern game of backgammon we are familiar with today.

The game went through many incarnations and in ancient Rome, where it was brought to by merchants from Asia, it evolved to a twelve line game that the Romans called it 'Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum' that literally means 'The Game of Twelve Lines' in Latin and dates back to 600AD.

In the first century the game was expended to 2 sections of 12 lines each that is most similar to the game played today. The game became so popular that in 50AD the Roman Emperor Claudius wrote a scroll about its history.

The scroll didn't survive the turbulent Middle Ages and the Romans have taken it with them to England where the game was renamed as 'Tabula' and a few centuries late changed again to 'Alea' and occasionally referred to as 'Nard'.

The name 'Backgammon' dates back to 1645 but the source of it is unclear. The most logical explanation is that comes from the Welsh words 'gammon' and 'bac' meaning 'Little Battle'.

The oldest set of written rules dates back to 1743 and was called 'Treatise on Backgammon' by Edmond Hoyle and they lasted until 1931 when they were modified again and stayed the same since.

The doubling dice was added to the game during the 1920's in New York City which caused the game to grow in popularity even more as it added another gambling aspect to the game and has meant that during the modern internet boom when gambling brands started launching online backgammon became one of the most popular online gambling games around.