When Was Backgammon Invented? Origins & History
Ask when backgammon was invented and you reach back further than almost any other game still played today. The board you might set out on a winter evening traces its lineage across roughly five thousand years, through empires that have long since crumbled.
No single inventor can claim it. Instead, backgammon grew from a family of ancient race games, each refining the one before. The earliest known ancestor was buried in the ground of what is now Iraq, waiting to be rediscovered in the 1920s.
What follows is the long story of how dice, points, and fifteen pieces per player came together into the game we recognise. If you would rather read the shorter version first, our history of backgammon covers the essentials, and our backgammon sets carry that heritage into the present day.
The Ancient Origins of Backgammon: Mesopotamia and the World's Oldest Board Games
The oldest thread of the story begins in Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates. It was here that Sir Leonard Woolley, excavating the Royal Tombs of Ur in the 1920s, uncovered a beautifully inlaid board now known as the Royal Game of Ur.
The British Museum in London holds the object, and dates it to around 2600 to 2400 BCE. That places it among the oldest board games ever found, and scholars consider it a forerunner of the race-based games that eventually produced backgammon.
What makes the Royal Game of Ur so striking is how recognisable it feels. Players raced their pieces along a track, their progress decided by the throw of dice. The core idea, chance and strategy wrestling across a shared path, is the same principle that animates a modern game.
Mesopotamia was a cradle of writing, mathematics, and law, and board games belonged to that same flowering of human ingenuity. A game was not a trivial thing; it was a social ritual, a contest of nerve, and sometimes a reflection of fate itself.
Nothing survives to tell us the exact rules the people of Ur played by, though researchers have reconstructed a plausible set. What matters for our question is the lineage. The DNA of backgammon was present four and a half thousand years ago.
That ancient appetite for a quick, dramatic race has never really left us. You can trace it through almost everything in our traditional games, where the oldest ideas in play are kept in good working order.
How Backgammon Spread Through Persia, Rome, and the Byzantine Empire
From Mesopotamia the race game travelled. As trade routes and conquests carried goods and ideas across the ancient world, versions of these dice games spread into Persia, where they took deep root and gathered their own legends.
The decisive chapter, though, belongs to Rome. The Romans played a game called Tabula, and it is widely regarded as the direct ancestor of modern backgammon. Its board held 24 points, each player commanded 15 pieces, and movement was governed by two dice.
Read those specifications again and the resemblance is unmistakable. A player sitting down to Tabula two thousand years ago would need only a short lesson to feel at home at a backgammon board today.
The game reached the highest levels of Roman society. According to the historian Suetonius, the Emperor Claudius, who reigned from 41 to 54 CE, was an enthusiastic player of Tabula and reportedly even wrote a book about it. A ruling emperor devoting his pen to a board game tells you how seriously it was taken.
When the Western Empire gave way, the game lived on in the Byzantine East. There it was sometimes called Tavli, a name still used in Greece today, carrying the Roman tradition forward through the medieval centuries without a break.
This unbroken survival is part of what makes backgammon special among our board games. Few pastimes can claim to have passed, hand to hand, from a Roman emperor to a modern living room. A good backgammon board is a link in that very long chain.
When Backgammon Arrived in Britain and How It Became 'Backgammon'
Games of the Tabula family reached Britain by various routes, carried by Roman occupation, by trade, and later by crusaders returning from the East with eastern variants of the game.
For centuries it went by other names. Medieval English players knew a version called Tables, a broad term covering several related race games played on a folding board. Tables was a fixture of noble households and taverns alike, condemned by some clergy as a gambling vice precisely because it was so popular.
The word backgammon itself is comparatively recent, emerging in English in the seventeenth century. Its origin is debated. The most common explanations trace it either to 'back game', describing how a hit piece must re-enter and travel back round, or to older words meaning 'back' and 'game'.
By this period the game had settled into something very close to its present form, and the folding wooden board had become a familiar object in British homes. The design proved so practical that it has barely changed since.
That same hinged board is why backgammon travels so well, a tradition carried on by the sets in our guide to the best travel backgammon sets uk 2026. The folding case protects the pieces and doubles as the playing surface.
Britain has long been a home for games that endure, from backgammon to chess to the parlour amusements of the Victorian age. It was in that same spirit of invention that Happy Families, the card game Jaques invented, first appeared. The British appetite for a well-made board has kept these traditions alive.
How the Rules of Backgammon Changed Over the Centuries
For a game so ancient, backgammon's rules have proved remarkably stable. The 24 points, the 15 pieces, and the two dice described in Roman Tabula remain the foundation of the modern game. What has shifted over the centuries is the detail around the edges.
Regional variants multiplied. The Persian and Byzantine traditions produced their own starting positions and scoring conventions, and names such as Tavli, Nard, and Tables all described closely related play with local twists. Each culture adjusted the game to its own taste.
Gambling shaped much of this evolution. Backgammon has always been played for stakes, and the tension of a wager drove refinements intended to sharpen the contest and reward bold play.
The single most important modern change arrived in the 1920s in New York, with the introduction of the doubling cube. This small marked die lets a player offer to double the stakes mid-game, forcing the opponent either to concede or to accept and play on for higher reward.
The doubling cube transformed competitive backgammon. It added a second game layered over the first, a contest of judgement about when you are winning, when you are behind, and how much risk your opponent will stomach. Modern tournament strategy is unthinkable without it.
Beyond that, the rules you learn today would be recognised across most of the game's history. If you are choosing a board that suits the modern game, our backgammon board buying guide uk 2026 explains what to look for, and our backgammon sets include a doubling cube as standard.
Why Backgammon Has Survived for 5,000 Years and Still Endures Today
Why has backgammon outlasted countless games that have come and gone? Part of the answer lies in its balance. Luck and skill are held in near-perfect tension, so a beginner can beat a master in a single game, yet the stronger player will win out over many.
It is also quick. A single game rarely outlasts a conversation, which makes it ideal for an evening of several rounds rather than one long campaign. That rhythm has suited social life in every era, from the Roman table to the modern kitchen.
The physical object matters too. A folding backgammon board is compact, durable, and self-contained, holding its own pieces and dice within. It is a game you can carry to a friend's house or pack for a holiday without ceremony.
There is lasting pleasure in a well-made set, with weighted pieces, a leather case, and points in contrasting colours. Our round-up of the best backgammon sets uk 2026 shows how little the essentials have changed, and every set we make is tested to UKCA and CE safety standards so it is ready for players of any age.
Backgammon also keeps good company. It sits naturally alongside our chess sets and the wider range of our board games, the classic pastimes that reward repeated play.
Five thousand years after the people of Ur first raced their pieces, the game endures because it answers something simple and permanent: the wish to test wits and fortune across a board, one throw at a time.
Shop the range: When Was Backgammon Invented? Origins & History
Our most relevant picks, made by a British family company since 1795.
Frequently Asked Questions About When Was Backgammon Invented
When was backgammon invented?
Backgammon in its recognisable form evolved over thousands of years. Its earliest forerunners include the Royal Game of Ur, dating to around 2600–2400 BCE, excavated from the Royal Tombs of Ur in modern-day Iraq. The Roman game Tabula — played on a 24-point board with 15 pieces per player and dice — is widely regarded as a direct ancestor of modern backgammon. The game as played today took shape progressively, with the doubling cube introduced as recently as the 1920s in New York, fundamentally altering competitive strategy.
Where did backgammon originally come from?
Backgammon traces its origins to the ancient Middle East and the classical Mediterranean world. The Royal Game of Ur, discovered in modern-day Iraq and dating to approximately 2600–2400 BCE, represents one of the earliest known race-based board games and is considered a forerunner of backgammon. The Roman game Tabula, popular throughout the Roman Empire and played on a 24-point board with 15 pieces per player and dice, is widely recognised as the most direct ancestor of the modern game.
Who invented backgammon?
Backgammon has no single inventor. It evolved from a lineage of race-based board games developed across multiple cultures over millennia. The Royal Game of Ur from ancient Iraq (c. 2600–2400 BCE) is an early forerunner. The Roman game Tabula, popular during the Roman Empire and featuring a 24-point board with 15 pieces per player and dice, is considered the most direct ancestor. Modern backgammon's competitive format was further shaped in the 1920s when the doubling cube was introduced in New York.
How old is backgammon?
Backgammon in a form closely resembling today's game is at least 1,500–2,000 years old, tracing directly to the Roman game Tabula. However, its roots stretch considerably further. The Royal Game of Ur, excavated from the Royal Tombs of Ur in modern-day Iraq by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s and held in the British Museum, dates to around 2600–2400 BCE and is considered a forerunner of race-based board games including backgammon — making the broader lineage approximately 4,500 years old.
Is backgammon a British game?
Backgammon is not originally a British game. Its roots lie in the ancient Middle East and Roman Mediterranean world. However, the game has a long history in Britain; the word 'backgammon' itself is of British origin, appearing in written English by the 17th century. Britain adopted and popularised the game enthusiastically over the centuries, and today British manufacturers such as Jaques of London have a distinguished tradition of producing fine backgammon sets, cementing the game's firm place in British leisure culture.
Why is it called backgammon?
The name 'backgammon' is generally believed to derive from the Middle English or Welsh words 'baec' (back) and 'gamen' (game), meaning roughly 'back game', likely referencing the rule by which pieces can be sent back to the start. The term appeared in written English during the 17th century. Before this name was adopted, similar games were known by other names across different cultures — including Tabula in ancient Rome and Nard in the medieval Middle East — reflecting the game's long, multicultural history.
What is the oldest board game in the world?
The Royal Game of Ur is among the oldest known board games in the world, dating to approximately 2600–2400 BCE. It was excavated from the Royal Tombs of Ur in modern-day Iraq by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s and is held in the British Museum in London. Regarded as a forerunner of race-based board games including backgammon, it demonstrates that competitive board gaming has been part of human culture for well over four millennia. Senet from ancient Egypt is another contender of comparable antiquity.
Was backgammon played in ancient Rome?
Yes. The Romans played a game called Tabula, widely regarded as a direct ancestor of modern backgammon. Tabula was played on a board of 24 points with 15 pieces per player and two dice — closely mirroring today's game. It was popular throughout the Roman Empire. The Roman historian Suetonius recorded that Emperor Claudius, who reigned 41–54 CE, was an enthusiastic Tabula player and reportedly even wrote a book about the game, illustrating how seriously the Romans took it.
How has backgammon changed over time?
Backgammon evolved from ancient race-based games such as the Royal Game of Ur (c. 2600–2400 BCE) and the Roman game Tabula, which already featured a 24-point board with 15 pieces per player and dice. Over centuries the rules were gradually refined into the standardised format recognised today. The most significant modern development was the introduction of the doubling cube in New York in the 1920s, which allowed players to raise the stakes mid-game and fundamentally transformed competitive backgammon strategy, adding a distinct layer of psychological and mathematical complexity.
When did backgammon become popular in the UK?
Backgammon has been played in Britain for centuries, with the English name appearing in written records by the 17th century. It enjoyed considerable popularity among the British upper classes and in gentlemen's clubs through the 18th and 19th centuries. The game experienced a major revival in the 1970s when backgammon became fashionable across Europe and North America. British manufacturers with long-standing heritage, such as Jaques of London, have produced quality backgammon sets throughout this history, reflecting the game's enduring place in British leisure and games culture.