Backgammon Trivia
The World’s Oldest Board Game

1. The popular game originated in Persia more than five thousand years ago.
2. Burzoe is credited with the invention of backgammon back in the 6th century and was officially named such in the Persian Book of Kings written in the 11th century.
3. The game was created in response to the game of chess that was introduced to the Persians by Indians.
4. Backgammon facts trivia reports that the number of checkers and bases is not arbitrary for the game. Moreover, the thirty checkers in a backgammon game represent the number of days in a month of the Persian calendar and the twenty-four bases symbolized the twenty-four hours in each day.
5. The backgammon board represents planet earth while the checkers symbolize humans moving along the planet according to their fate.
6. The Greek philosopher Plato mentioned the game in his writings and said that backgammon represents the movement of the earth and planets while chess represents war.
7. Another of the backgammon facts trivia is that in France in the 13th century, church based laws prohibited this and other board games. This also occurred in 16th century England. This was because table games were often associated with gambling which, at that time, was considered a sin against God.
8. Backgammon arrived in the United States in the 1930s where New York's Wheaton Vaughan developed the current set of backgammon rules. The game's popularity soared in the Big Apple and soon spread throughout the country.