The Rise and Fall of Backgammon in the UK
People around the world love to gamble and play games. The UK is definitely one of those countries who like to sit by their tea tables and have a good time playing a board game. The backgammon game in particular, has an interesting history in the UK and we will discover, why and how it brought along such a commotion as well. But where does the backgammon game come from before it was introduced in the UK?
Like so many other games, the clear origin of backgammon is unknown. It is said that it possibly derived from four possible predecessors. These were the games of Senat, Royal Game of Ur, Lodus Duodecim Scriptorum, and Nard. The game of Senat originally came from ancient Egypt and this game was also known as the game of thirty squares. The Royal Game of Ur came from Mesopotamia, and the Lodus Duodecim Scriptorum originated in the Roman Empire and was also called "The Game of 12 Lines." The last game was Nard and is speculated to be the direct forerunner of our backgammon game. Nard originated in Asia and was later introduced in Europe through the Arab occupation of Sicily.
The first actual mention of the backgammon game in the UK was in 1025 and it was in English print. The Nard game became the "Tables" game and was highly popular in English taverns in the middle Ages. When chess was introduced in the UK, it unfortunately overtook the backgammon game. This happened in the 15th century. During this time, the backgammon game was already known in other countries and where played under different names such as "Puff" in Germany and "Le Trictrac" in France. The name backgammon itself formed ca. the mid-seventeenth century due to the Saxons who called it "bac gamen." If you separate the two words it literally means back game. This probably refers to the checkers which have to go back into the game when they are thrown out.
During the reign of Henry VIII, the Cardinal of the UK, Cardinal Wolsey oversaw that all the boards are to be burned. The reason was because the backgammon game had a widespread gambling nature. Although this argument seemed very strong, the people in the UK were not very impressed and soon after they were able to craft the backgammon boards within books so that it would not be noticed. These boards probably gave the inspiration of what we call now the concealed backgammon board. The ban was lifted with the reign of Elizabeth I.
In 1745, Edmond Hoyle, a writer from the UK has written "A Short Treatise On the Game of Back-Gammon." His thesis included strategies which still apply until today. This is the last and probably greatest contribution of the people in England to develop the backgammon game. It remains popular in the UK today as it was then.