Games

Backgammon

Also Known As Tables Tables is the medieval English family name for the dice and race games, including backgammon, played on the folding board of that name.

Citation Formats

General Reference

Sport and Games Atlas. "Backgammon." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://sport.interactiveatlas.org/games/backgammon.

APA Style

Sport and Games Atlas. (n.d.). Backgammon. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://sport.interactiveatlas.org/games/backgammon

BibTeX

@misc{sportandgamesatlas-backgammon,
  author = {Sport and Games Atlas},
  title = {Backgammon},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://sport.interactiveatlas.org/games/backgammon},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Backgammon is a two player race game combining strategy and dice, played by moving checkers around a board of twenty four triangular points toward each player own home area. It descends from a long lineage of ancient race type board games played with dice: among the oldest known relatives is the Royal Game of Ur, played in Mesopotamia around 2600 to 2400 BC, with board sets excavated at the Royal Cemetery of Ur, and a closer structural ancestor is the Roman game tabula, documented from around the first century AD and using similar movement and doubling principles. The English name backgammon is first attested in the 1640s. H.J.R. Murray 1952 survey treats tabula as the direct Roman era ancestor of the wider tables family of games that includes backgammon, though the exact line of transmission across the centuries between these ancient games and the modern form is not fully documented and remains debated among game historians.

Facts

Originating Region

Contested and layered: ancient Mesopotamia and Rome for the game structural ancestors, England for the name and the codified modern form 1

Game Type

Board game, race and dice 1

Governing Body

World Backgammon Federation (WBGF), formerly the European Backgammon Federation until it expanded its scope internationally in 2018; headquartered in Schwaz, Austria. It regulates competition rules and player rankings, unites national federations across several continents, and is pursuing recognition of backgammon as a mind sport. 2

Disputed

Origin Year

1645 1

1645 is commonly cited as the first English attestation of the name backgammon. The game itself descends from a much older lineage of race and dice games, including the Roman game tabula, documented from around the first century AD, and more distantly the Royal Game of Ur, from Mesopotamia around 2600 to 2400 BC, but the exact line of transmission across the intervening centuries between these ancient games and the modern form is not fully documented and is debated among game historians.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Derived From

Royal Game of Ur

Why this is disputed. The Royal Game of Ur is long treated as standing at the deep root of the race and dice game family that includes backgammon, but the historical line of transmission across the many centuries between the two, and through the intermediate Roman game tabula, is undocumented and debated among game historians.

Source The Oxford History of Board Games