Backgammon Variants in Backgammon History

Backgammon history is believed to begin in Mesopotamia around 3000 BC. However, there is no consensus on this. The earliest of the confirmed backgammon variants goes back to circa 450 BC. The backgammon game was played in Persia under the name Nard. It was played without cubes, without doubles and without gammons. Also a roll of two sixes gave only two six moves, as opposed to four moves in the modern backgammon game.

Backgammon history moved to Rome from Persia. The most popular of the Roman backgammon variants was known as Tabula. This backgammon game was played with three dice. The names of many backgammon variants in Europe were derived from "Tabula" meaning table. Tables was used in England, tablas was used in Spain, taules was used in Provencal, tables was used in France, tavole was used in Italy and tabulae was used in Latin.

Murray's "History of Boardgames Other than Chess" is an important source of backgammon history of the 16th and 17th centuries. Some notable backgammon variants of the 16th century were "Todas Tablas" in Spain and "Toutes Tables" in France. There were no gammons and doubling was allowed only once in this backgammon game. Gammons and doubling twice were introduced in the early 17th century Spain in a variant known as "Tablas Reales"

Backgammon history also refers to backgammon variants that were played in the Middle Ages but died out by the 16th century. Equinas, Falls and Emperador are some of these backgammon variants that were played in Spain. The backgammon game has constantly evolved. Some variants have disappeared, new ones have been created, but the core backgammon game is eternal.