Backgammon History - The Roots of the Game
The backgammon game roots run deep. The most ancient ancestry is claimed by a game called "Senet" which came out of Egypt. This game was played on a board with 3 X 10 squares. No one is quite certain now of the rules, but it has been conjectured that it was gambling game of movement and displacement of opponent pieces (usually made of stone) moving in opposite directions. The movement was thought to be controlled by the roll of dice made of bones or ceramic. Archeologists have dug out Senet sets including dice and board.
Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, the Roman version of backgammon, is likely to have evolved from Senat. . It had three rows of twelve points each and was played with three dice. In around the year 500 AD one of those rows was dropped. During the first mellinium AD, the game came to be known as "Tabula", which means "table" in Latin. The Emperor Claudius is belived to have liked the game. He had a game board attached to his chariot. His passion for the game led him to write a history of it. But with the comming of the dark ages, the manuscript was lost, togeather of many of the entient wisdoms.
The game was brought to England by the Roman invasion of the first century AD. . There it was considered a gambling game of the upper classes. . . The first refference to the game with the word "Backgammon" was in 1645. This name derives from the "Back Game" in Middle English. It probably refear to a blot that has been sent BACK to the bar.
Edmund Hoyle was the first one to came out with the first comprehensice publication on backgammon rules, in 1743 official rules of backgammon. In 1920 the doubling cube was introduced in New York. The doubling cube brought a new spirit of gammling into the backgammon game. .
Backgammon has not changed since then. . Yet many books and publications came to light speaking of tactics and strategy of the game. Computers have changed the face of backgammon somewhat. They have provided online venues, automated opponents and increased the analytical aspects of the game for professionals.
Today players can participate in backgammon tournaments all over the world. The first world championship took place in Bermuda. Bermuda remains a popular center of backgammon culture. .
How do Backgammon Notation Works