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Backgammon History
The Origins of Backgammon
Backgammon is believed to have originated in Mesopotamia in
the Persian empire or the present day Iran, Iraq, and Syria and it is the
oldest known recorded game in history. The free backgammon on line game was typically played on
surfaces play backgammon free such as wood, using play stones as markers, and dice made from bones,
stones, wood or pottery and it can be traced back thousands of years BC to
boardgames played by the Egyptians, backgammon directions Sumerians, Romans, and play Persians.
Artifacts Revealed
A Senat Game Board
Throughout the history of the game it has
been associated with the leaders and backgammon checkers aristocracy of these ancient civilizations
as shown by excavated relics and literary references from Persia, Greece, Rome,
and the Far East. Gaming boards with free backgammon game 3x10, 3x12, and 3x6 squares play backgammon free were found in
Egypt and it was known as the Game of Thirty Squares or Senat. These
artifacts date back to 3000-1788BC and the rules as instructions to play backgammon well as the use of dice for
this game remain unknown. Wooden boards were found in the royal tomb of the Ur
al Chaldees, the center of Sumer dated around 2600BC along with tetrahedral
dice and are known as The Royal backgammon for money Games of
Ur. A set of rules for the game played play at play backgammon free that time was found on some
cuneiform tablet dated at about 177BC.
The Royal Game of Ur
Roman jelly play backgammon free fish backgammon Backgammon
Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum
The Romans left evidence of a game called Ludus
Duodecim Scriptorum "The Game of 12 Lines" with leather boards and sets
of play backgammon and chess table 30 markers, 15 of ebony and 15 of ivory dating back to 600AD and is thought
to be derived from the Egyptian Senat. In backgammon directions the 1st Century AD Ludus Duodecim
Scriptorum was replaced by free a vairant with 2x12 lines instead of 3x12 play backgammon free lines as
it grew closer and closer to todays version. The game came to Britain with play play backgammon free 65 the
Roman conquest in the 1st Century and was also referred to as Tabula,
a generic name for the board on which it was played. This pastime backgammon electronic backgammon was quite
popular and a favored game by Emporor Claudius. online backgammon About 50 AD, Claudius wrote a
history of the game of Tabula which, unfortunately, has not survived. His
imperial carriage was equipped with an alveus, a Tabula playing board, so that
he could play while travelling. Tabula is also the game which was primarily
responsible for the gambling mania which swept Rome prior to its being declared
illegal download backgammon game under backgammon the Republic. backgammon book The fine for gambling at any other time except the
Saturnalia was four times the stakes, although this law was only play backgammon free weakly and
sporadically enforced. By the 6th Century the game was called Alea, "the art of
gambling with dice". Alea was likely the first precursor to contemporary
backgammon although there were many vaiations backgammon classic regarding starting positions and
movment.
Backgammon in Asia
In Asia a game called "Nard" party backgammon gammon appeared prior to 800AD in
southwest Asia or Persia. Nard was played in a similar fashion as Alea and used
only 2 die to move markers. Also referred to as Nardshir, Nardeeshir, and
Nard-i-shir, with "Nard" was play backgammon free the Persian name for wood gammonempire product like the board
on which it was played. The game was also called "Takhteh Nard" meaning "battle
on wood". An ancient writing free online backgammon describing the symbolism of the game reveals
that:
The board represents free a year; each side contains 12
points for months of the year; the twenty-four points represent the play backgammon on line hours in a
day; the 30 checkers represent days play backgammon free of the month; the sum of opposing sides of
the die represent the 7 play days fo the week; the contrasting colors of each set of
checkers represent day backgammon accessory and night.
Ancient Dice
T'shu-p'u was the Chinese name for Nard
thought to be invented in Western India and arived in China during the Wei
dynasty (220-265AD) and was popular from 479-1000AD, while the backgammon sets Japanese called
it "Sugoroku". Nard introduced into Europe via Italy or play backgammon free Spain java backgammon following Arab
occupation of Sicily in 902AD. The term "Tabula" was used by several cultures
making it likely that the game was play widespread by the Roman Empire while "Nard"
was similarly spread thoughout play backgammon free Asia by the backgammon board setup backgammon Arabs. The Arabian gammonempire game Nard appears
to be a slightly modifed version of Tabula, perhaps incorporating aspects of
Egyptian Senat. The main difference between the two versions was that Tabula
used 3 dice while Nard used 2. The online backgammon game use of 2 dice for Tabula later became
increasingly popular.
Backgammon's play yahoo backgammon Proliferation and Standardization
TricTrac Painting
The first mention in play backgammon free English print was in The Codex
Exoniensis "These two shall sit at tables..." in 1025 as Nard or "Tables" was
played throughout the middle ages and was popular in English taverns. Chess
overtook play backgammon free Tables in popularity around the 15th play yahoo backgammon Century. The game was evne banned
for some free online backgammon time due to its prevalent gambling nature until the reign of Elizabeth
I. In fact, the game enjoyed popularity in backgammon several countries under different
names free including: Tavola Reale (Italy), Tables Reales (Spain), Tavli (Greece),
Tavla
(Turkey), Tric
Trac (France), Backgammon or backgammon tips Tables (Britain), Puff (Germany), Vrhcaby
(Czech), and Swan-liu (China). The term "Backgammon" is said to have been
derived in 1645 from tasmanian backgammon either the Saxon "baec" (back) "gamen" (game) or the Welsh
"bac" or "bach" (little) "gammon" or "cammaun" (battle) with the first being
more likely. Yet another theory was that it received it's name because zone.com backgammon it was
frequently found on the backgammon download "back" of chessboards, although play backgammon free this too is unlikely.
By this time Tabula using 2 dice adopting the rule of playing doubles twice was
much like the contemporary version with the exception of the doubling cube and
the counting of gammons and backgammons. In 1743 Edmond backgammon history Hoyle codified the
rules of play with his Treatise on Backgammon, backgammon internet backgammon game the first official set of modern
rules in existence.
Hoyle's Treatise on Backgmmon
The play Modern History of Backgammon
1920-1960
The doubling cube was believed to
be introduced in New York play backgammon free in the 1920's by some unknown gambler which enhanced
the element of skill in the game backgammon play backgammon free back door increasing its marketability, insuring its
place as a popular pastime. The game backgammon game rules was mostly limited to the upper class in
private clubs although several introductory backgammon publications burst onto
the scene. The backgammon rules were modified in 1931 in
the U.S. to what generally governs backgammon history the game today. There was somewhat of a
decline in popularity during the depression yahoo backgammon backdoor and a light resurgence in the
1940's which saw a few more texts
published although no real advances in skill. Interest decreased again backgammon tournaments during
WWII.
Oby's Backgammon Book
1960-1990
The popularity of
backgammon increased during the 1960's with the efforts of Prince Alexis
Obelensky (Oby) backgammon directions who organized and promoted tournaments and the first "Official"
World Championships in the Bahamas becoming
backgammon's highest honor which holds true today. A prolific publishing trend
of backgammon play backgammon online free books was started with "Backgammon: The Action Game" by Oby
himself. The 1970's have been frequently described as backgammon's "Heyday" as
it saw huge increases in popularity, publicity, tournaments and backgammon
literature including free backgammon game download books, magazines, and newspaper columns. It moved from the
upper to middle classes and was popular among the younger generation as well.
Tournament purses soared backgammon gambling into 6 digit sums and its popularity was widespread
throughout the US and Europe. Several great introductory texts came out
including "The Backgammon Book" by
Jacoby backgammon software & Crawford, "Backgammon: The Cruelest
Game" by Cooke & Bradshaw, which paved the way for more advanced
tomes such as "Backgammon for Profit" by
Dwek and the Classic "Backgammon" by
Magriel referred to by many as the "bible of backgammon". The 1980's however
saw a decline in backgammon game table popularity again mostly among doubling cube the younger generation likely
due to the advent of video games and the excitement to young minds that they
can provide. Interest in learning the intricacies of the game was as strong as
ever for the players that remained and was bolstered by the invention of
computer backgammon which could not only provide a decent opponent but more
importantly they could save hours of time by performing rollouts of positions
giving players a deeper understanding of the game.
Jellyfish
1990-Present
The computer revolution
continued in full force as Gerald Tesauro of IBM wrote software which could
teach itself how to play backgammon using Neural Networking creating a world
class player in TD-Gammon. FIBS (First
Internet Backgammon Server) was created in 1993 by Andreas Schneider and hosted
on an academic computer in Sweden for free. Over 100 players with internet
connections could be found playing at any one time with the ability to save
matches, watch matches and compare playing strengths via a rating system.
Frederic Dahl of Norway created the first commercial neural net backgammon
software with Jellyfish which could
assign equity values to any position and rollout positions like never before.
Bot players appeared on FIBS and a backgammon newsgroup appeared at rec.games.backgammon
where players could go and discuss all things backgammon.
Snowie
Olivier Egger introduced Snowie, a more commercially popular
backgammon software with a user-friendly interface and the ability to import
and analyze matches still considered todays standard. The latest development in
backgammon software, GNU
Backgammon, will likely give these others a run for their money as it
is based on Open Source making it free for download and improvement by
programmers. Several serious backgammon books appeared by the likes of Kleinman, Robertie, and Woolsey and our body of knowledge and use of
backgammon software has become so advanced that most recent books describe
concepts and positions backed up by computer rollouts such as those by Bagai (who actually corrects mistakes make in
previous books) and Wiggins. Backgammon
has acheived somewhat of a steady state with several tournaments throughout the
US and Europe being well attended. The internet provides several backgammon
servers who enjoy clientele among the thousands and the web has given birth to
a multitude of backgammon resources such as the one you are at now.
Considerable thanks go out to Chuck Bower and Mark Driver who both wrote
excellent articles at GammOnline, and to the creators of
the various websites that I have linked to for their research and dissemination
of Backgammon's rich history.
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