Backgammon History
It was believed to have originated in ancient Egypt from a game called senet, which resembled backgammon with moves controlled by the roll of dice. However, more recent conclusive evidence indicates that the game originated on the eastern borders of Iran, near Afghanistan where a similiar game existed there around 3000 BC. Even the ancient Romans played a number of games with remarkable similarities to backgammon altough not much specific information about the game rules and play had survived.
In English, the word backgammon is believed to be derived from "back" plus the Middle English word "gamen" (game).
Tabula was a form of backgammon played by the ancient Romans. It was called tabula, which means 'table' or 'board', since it was played on a special board. Tabula bears some similarity to Egyptian Senet, which dates back to at least 3000 BCE.
The game of Tabula was similar to modern-day Backgammon in that the same board was used with fifteen pieces allotted to each player with the object of the game being to be the first to bear off all fifteen pieces. It differed in that the game began with no pieces on the board so that these first had to be entered by the roll of the dice. Likewise, three dice were used instead of two. Finally, both players entered the board from the same table and moved around the board in the same counter clockwise direction.
Backgammon has long been popular in the Middle East, but it wasn't until the 1920's, when the doubling cube was first introduced, that backgammon became widespread. The doubling cube greatly enhanced its popularity as a gambling game, and soon backgammon clubs flourished in America. In the 1970's backgammon became the fad, with big money tournaments for the jet-setting crowd. Since then popularity has waned, but it is still played by many people, and there are backgammon clubs all over the world. It is now enjoying resurgence at the world wide web and among the Internet community.
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