History of backgammon

Kate Bomberger

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Mar 26, 2002, 1:25:04 PM3/26/02

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Hi, folks,

I'm writing a novel set in the 16th century (southern Spain and southern
France) in which the game of backgammon plays an important role.

Does anybody know any web sites or books or other sources of info on how
past rules of backgammon might have differed from current play? I know,
for instance, that the doubling cube was not used then. What else?
What did they call the checkers (or men) back then? Any other
terminology I should know about?

Thank you kindly for your help.

Kate

Tapio Palmroth

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Mar 26, 2002, 2:21:28 PM3/26/02

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Moro ,
Go check www.chicagopoint.com and there gammonlinks , there should be
something for you , at least some interesting links.

Yep , and do post here when your book is ready , here might be some
interested readers .

May the luck be with you

tapio

Kate Bomberger kirjoitti viestissä ...

Walter Trice

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Mar 27, 2002, 2:10:30 AM3/27/02

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"Kate Bomberger" <ka...@waldenpond.TAKETHISOUT.com> wrote in message
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Mark Driver has written some articles on the history of the game and older
variants for the GammonVillage site (www.gammonvillage.com -- a pay site.)
They also have there the text of a 1745 treatise on the game by Edmond
Hoyle, written of course in the archaic lingo of those times, which is quite
different from the terms we use to describe the game today.

-- Walter Trice

Mark Denihan

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Mar 31, 2002, 4:08:50 PM3/31/02

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The way things work, and given the era, I would think that rules varied
regionally, and probably from pub to pub. I would feel free to be creative -
how about a duel fueled by inconsistent rules :) As an example - even today
I think there are over a hundred variations of Wari type games in Africa.

mark

'the only universal constant is change'

"Kate Bomberger" <ka...@waldenpond.TAKETHISOUT.com> wrote in message
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Dean Jameson

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Apr 1, 2002, 10:34:14 PM4/1/02

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The best source for information on the history of backgammon and variations
from around the world (that I am aware of) is H.J.R. Murray's "History of
Boardgames Other than Chess" (1952). A version of the modern game was
played in Spain in the 16th c., except that there was no such thing as a
gammon and doubles were not played twice. This game was called "todas
tablas" (in France, it was "toutes tables"). The addition of gammons and
playing doubles twice occurred early in the 17th c., and this version was
called "tablas reales" in Spain.

There were also many other variations that involved different starting
positions. One characteristic of these variants is that three dice were
often used instead of two. Examples from Spain include cab e equinal,
fallas and emperador. These games were also played in other countries under
similar names and date back to the middle ages. It's possible but uncertain
whether they were still played in the 16th century.

The generic term for backgammon was tables in English, tablas in Spanish,
taules in Provencal, tables in French, tavole in Italian, tabulae in Latin.
A single piece was called a "tablero" in Spanish and a "taulier" in
Provencal("tableman" in English).

"Kate Bomberger" <ka...@waldenpond.TAKETHISOUT.com> wrote in message
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