The History of Backgammon: 5,000 Years of Dice and Checkers

Updated: 10 November 2026

Few games have survived as many centuries and cultures as backgammon. Its story leads from Persia and Mesopotamia via Rome to today’s screens.

Origins in the ancient East

Race games with dice existed around 5,000 years ago. In the “Burnt City” (Shahr-e Sukhteh) in eastern Iran, archaeologists found a game board with pieces and dice dated to around 3000 BC. From Mesopotamia we know the “Royal Game of Ur”, a race game of similar age. Both are seen as early relatives of backgammon, even though their rules were different.

Nard in Persia

In Persia the game “Nard” developed – to this day backgammon is called Takhte Nard there. A Middle Persian story tells how the wise vizier Bozorgmehr invented the game to impress the envoys of India, who had brought chess. Nard stood for the interplay of fate (the dice) and wise decisions.

Rome and Europe

The Romans played Tabula, a board game with 24 points, dice and 15 pieces each – already very similar to modern backgammon. Even emperors are said to have played it passionately. Through the Byzantine Empire and the Arab world, related games spread across Europe in the Middle Ages under names such as “Tables”, “Tric-Trac” or “Puff”.

The name and modern times

The English name “backgammon” appears in the 17th century. It probably comes from “back” and “gamen” (to play) – fitting, since hit checkers have to go back. In 1743 Edmond Hoyle published an influential treatise on the game. In the 1920s the doubling cube was added in New York, and it shapes the game to this day.

Backgammon today

In the 1970s backgammon enjoyed a huge boom with clubs and tournaments. Since the 1990s it has also been played online; computer programs learned through self-play to play better than most humans. In Turkey, Greece, Iran, the Arab world and the Caucasus it remains a people’s game – in cafés, on balconies and in families. How differently it is played there is shown in our article on the variants Tavla, Tavli and Nardy.