Backgammon History

Backgammon as we know it today is categorized as a racing game where the objective is to reach the target area first. Backgammon in it's various versions exists for at least 6000 years and has the longest recorded history.

Backgammon Earliest Versions

The Romans played a backgammon version called "the 12 line game". It apparently derived from an Egyptian game called "Senet". 2000 years ago the Romans changed their game from 3 roes and 12 lines to 2 rows and 12 lines, thus the game appeared more like backgammon as we know it.

The game version that uses the similar starting position is know since the 12th century and was referred by different names pending on the country ( "todas tavlas" in Alonso the 10th book of games; Shilin Guangji in China; "Totae Tabulae" in Italy; "Irish" in England; "Toutes Tables" in France; "Gulaca Crida" in India).

Modern Backgammon 

The birth or the modern Backgammon is attributed to 17th century England. Regarding the origin of the name "Backgammon" there are 2 theories: one theory states that the origin of Backgammon derives from ancient English using a combination of "bac" (back) and "gamen" (game) meaning backgame or play backwards since the objective is to take all of the checkers off the board.
The second theory is attributed to welsh and uses the word combination of "bech" (small) and "gammon" (war).

Backgammon in the 20th

The popularity of backgammon in the modern world had it's ups and downs. In the 19th century the increasing popularity of Chess cause Backgammon to be cast aside. In the second half of the 20th century Backgammon started to regain it popularity mainly thanks to Alexis Obolinskey, a Russian oligarch which fled with his family to Turkey in fear from the communist revolution. Obolinskey eventually reached the USA and in the 1960's organized the first Backgammon world championship in the Bahamas, and wrote the first modern book dedicated to Backgammon strategy. In 1979 the Backgammon world championship moved to Monte-Carlo, where it's being held since.

The common Backgammon is similar to the Turkish variation "Tavla", this variation of Backgammon has slight variations like the "doubling cube" first added to Backgammon in N.Y at the beginning of the 20th century. This addition is meant to turn Backgammon into a more exciting game.  

Backgammon on the Interent