Tables games are a class of
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
that includes
backgammon
Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...
and which are played on a tables board, typically with two rows of 12 vertical markings called
points. Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tables games are among the oldest known
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
s, and many different varieties are played throughout the world. They are called 'tables' games because the boards consist of four quadrants or 'tables'. The vast majority are
race games
Race game is a large category of board games, in which the object is to be the first to move all one's pieces to the end of a track. This is both the earliest type of board game known, with implements and representations dating back to at least t ...
, the tables board representing a linear race track with start and finish points, the aim being to be first to the finish line, but the characteristic features that distinguish tables games from other race games are that they are two-player games using a large number of pieces, usually fifteen per player.
Tables games should not be confused with
table games which are casino gambling games like
roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...
or
blackjack
Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...
.
Name
The word 'tables' is derived from the Latin ''tabula'' which primarily meant 'board' or 'plank', but also referred to this genre of game. From its plural form, ''tabulae'', come the names in other languages for this family of games including the Anglo-Saxon ''toefel'', German ''
urf
( ar, العرف) is an Arabic Islamic term referring to the custom, or 'knowledge', of a given society. To be recognized in an Islamic society, must be compatible with the Sharia law.H. Patrick Glenn, ''Legal Traditions of the World''. Oxfor ...
abel'', Greek ''tavli'', Italian ''tavoli'', Scandinavian ''tafl'', Spanish ''tablas'' and, of course, English and French ''tables''. The reason for the plural is twofold: firstly, that a tables board comprises four separate quadrants which are a feature of the play; and the second is that ''tabulae'' also came to refer to the individual pieces – 'tablemen' or 'men' for short – used in the various games.
[Parlett (1999), p. 58.]
Definition
Most, but not all, tables games are a type of
race game
Race game is a large category of board games, in which the object is to be the first to move all one's pieces to the end of a track. This is both the earliest type of board game known, with implements and representations dating back to at least t ...
. They are characterised as being:
[
* Played by two players and hence bilaterally symmetrical
* Multiplex games i.e. players have a large number of pieces
* Played on a rectangular board with players sitting on the long sides
* Played on a board with four quarters known as tables, hence the name.
]
Types
Tables games may be classified by movement[Parlett (1999), pp. 58–87.] or by tactics.[Papahristou & Refanidis (2013), pp. 2–3.]
Movement
Parlett (1999) identifies three different modes of movement in tables games:[
]
Games without movement
A small number of tables games involve no actual movement of pieces around the board. Instead pieces are entered or borne off or both, the aim being to be the first player to do so. Examples include Alfonso's Los Doze Canes also called Los Doze Hermanos, the English games of Doublets and Catch Dolt, the French games Renette, Tables Rabattues and Paumecary, the Icelandic game of Ofanfelling and the Levantine game of Eureika. Most of these games are simple pursuits suitable for children.
Games of contrary movement
This is the group to which Backgammon belongs. Some start with all pieces off the board, others with a fixed starting layout, but the aim in every case is to race them around the board in opposite directions and be first to bear them off. The group also includes Acey Deucey, known as Gegenpuff in German-speaking countries, Plakota, the 'English Game
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
', the Spanish games of Emperador, Quinze Tablas and Todas Tablas, the Italian games of Tavole Reales and Testa, and the French games of Tieste, Impérial and Trictrac
Trictrac is a French board game of skill and chance for two players that is played with dice on a board (game), game board similar, but not identical, to that of backgammon. It was "the classic tables game" of France in the way that backgammon is ...
.
Games of parallel movement
Like other members of the tables family, games in this last group are often mistaken for Backgammon or assumed to be its variants, yet the direction of movement and hence play is quite different. Players move in the same direction around the board and that direction is always anticlockwise. The group includes the old German games of Langer Puff (known confusingly in English as German or Russian Backgammon) and Buffa, the Italian game of Buffa Cortese, the Spanish games of Laquet
Laquet is an historical Castilian tables game that was described as a new game in the 13th century. It may be the ancestor of Jacquet. Unlike Backgammon and most other tables games, it has an asymmetrical starting position; only three of the fo ...
and Pareia de Entrada, the continental game of Verquere, French Jacquet, Turkish Moultezim and a curious Icelandic game called Chase the Girls.
Tactics
Papahristou & Refanidis (2013) categorise tables games by the type of attacking tactics permitted during the game:[Papahristou & Refanidis (2013), pp. 2–3.]
Hitting games
This is the standard tactic in games of contrary movement
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to ...
such as Backgammon
Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...
where players move their pieces in opposing directions. In a hitting game
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to ...
, the players may hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
enemy blots off the board. To do this a point must be occupied by only one opposing piece – this is called a blot – and the attacking player must move a piece onto that point. The blot is 'hit' or 'knocked off' the board and is usually placed on the bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
between the two halves of the board.
Pinning games
Pinning game
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to ...
s are also games of contrary movement. However, no hitting is allowed. Instead, the attacking player may pin a blot by moving a piece onto the same point. The blot is not removed from the board, but is trapped and not permitted to move until the covering man is moved off. Plakoto
Plakoto (Πλακωτό) is a tables game for two players that is popular in Greece. The object is for the player to bring all 15 pieces around to his or her own home board and then bear them off. The player who bears off all 15 pieces first wi ...
is an example of a pinning game.
Running games
A running game is a game in which no hitting or pinning is allowed and the game is essentially a race to bear off
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to ...
all one's pieces first. Points occupied even by one enemy man are blocked to the other side. They are usually games of parallel movement
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to ...
, like Fevga
Fevga is a popular Greek tables game for two players. It is usually played as one of three different games in succession – the others being Portes and Plakoto – in social gatherings or coffee shops. When played in this way, it is known as Tavl ...
, where players move around the board in the same direction, but some, like Gioul are games of contrary movement
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to ...
where players race their pieces past one another in opposing directions.
History
Numerous archaeological discoveries witness to game boards and artefacts bearing a strong resemblance to those used in race games
Race game is a large category of board games, in which the object is to be the first to move all one's pieces to the end of a track. This is both the earliest type of board game known, with implements and representations dating back to at least t ...
and ancient texts give an idea of their play in some cases. These bilateral race games may well be the ancestors of the tables game family. They include the Alea, Dogs and Jackals, Duodecim Scripta
Ludus duodecim scriptorum, or XII scripta, was a board game popular during the time of the Roman Empire. The name translates as "game of twelve markings", probably referring to the three rows of 12 markings each found on most surviving boards. Th ...
, the Game of Twenty, Grammai, the Royal Game of Ur
The Royal Game of Ur is a two-player strategy race board game of the tables family that was first played in ancient Mesopotamia during the early third millennium BC. The game was popular across the Middle East among people of all social strata a ...
, Senet
Senet or senat ( egy, znt, translation=passing; cf. Coptic language, Coptic ⲥⲓⲛⲉ /sinə/ "passing, afternoon") is a board game from ancient Egypt. The earliest representation of senet is dated to E from the Mastaba of Hesy-Re, while sim ...
and Nard.
The history of tables games may be divided into different periods of development:
* Pre-classical period: Grammai
Five Lines (Pente grammai/Πέντε Γραμμαί) is the modern name of an ancient Greek tables game. Two players each move five counters on a board with five lines, with moves likely determined by the roll of a die. The winner may have been th ...
and other early race games
* Classical period: notably Ludus duodecim scriptorum
Ludus duodecim scriptorum, or XII scripta, was a board game popular during the time of the Roman Empire. The name translates as "game of twelve markings", probably referring to the three rows of 12 markings each found on most surviving boards. Th ...
and Tabula
Tabula may refer to:
*Tabula (company), a semiconductor company
*Tabula (game), a game thought to be the predecessor to backgammon
* ''Tabula'' (magazine), a magazine published in Tbilisi, Georgia
*Tabula ansata, a tablet with handles
See also
* ...
* Nard period: from its invention or earliest appearance in Southwestern Asia (or Persia) before AD 800
* Tables period: tables games from their arrival in Spain or Italy from the Arabic world around the turn of the first millennium
* Modern period: the rise of more sophisticated games from the 15th century onwards including Trictrac
Trictrac is a French board game of skill and chance for two players that is played with dice on a board (game), game board similar, but not identical, to that of backgammon. It was "the classic tables game" of France in the way that backgammon is ...
and Backgammon
Pre-classical period
Persia
The history of tables games
Tables games are a class of board game that includes backgammon and which are played on a tables board, typically with two rows of 12 vertical markings called points. Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tables games are among ...
and their race game
Race game is a large category of board games, in which the object is to be the first to move all one's pieces to the end of a track. This is both the earliest type of board game known, with implements and representations dating back to at least t ...
forerunners can be traced back nearly 5,000 years to the region of Persia, where excavations in 2006 at the Burnt City
Shahr-e Sukhteh ( fa, شهر سوخته, meaning " heBurnt City"), c. 3200–2350 BCE,
also spelled as ''Shahr-e Sūkhté'' and ''Shahr-i Sōkhta'', is an archaeological site of a sizable Bronze Age urban settlement, associated with the Helmand ...
unearthed objects that appear to be part of a game set dating to around 3000 BC. These artefacts include an ebony board, two dice and 60 pieces, with the playing fields represented by the coils of a serpent. The rules of this game, like others found in Egypt, have yet to be discovered. It is, however, made from ebony, a material more likely to be found in the Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
, which indicates such board games may be more widespread than once thought.
Mesopotamia
Prior to the Persian discovery, the oldest board game sets had been found in Ur and are thought to be around 100 to 200 years later. They were used for the Royal Game of Ur
The Royal Game of Ur is a two-player strategy race board game of the tables family that was first played in ancient Mesopotamia during the early third millennium BC. The game was popular across the Middle East among people of all social strata a ...
, played in ancient Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
. These finds are significant because of two Babylonian tablets with cuneiform descriptions of the game played on these game sets, the later one dated c. 177 BC and the other one dating to several centuries earlier.[Finkel (2007), p. 22.] These represent the oldest rule sets of any race game
Race game is a large category of board games, in which the object is to be the first to move all one's pieces to the end of a track. This is both the earliest type of board game known, with implements and representations dating back to at least t ...
and clearly show this Sumerian game to be ancestral to the tables game family.
Egypt
Another ancient race game was Senet
Senet or senat ( egy, znt, translation=passing; cf. Coptic language, Coptic ⲥⲓⲛⲉ /sinə/ "passing, afternoon") is a board game from ancient Egypt. The earliest representation of senet is dated to E from the Mastaba of Hesy-Re, while sim ...
, played by the ancient Egyptians around the same time. Board fragments that could be Senet have been found in First Dynasty burials in Egypt, , but the first painting of this ancient game is from the Third Dynasty
The Third Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty III) is the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Other dynasties of the Old Kingdom include the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth. The capital during the period of the Old Kingdom was at Memphis.
Overview
Af ...
(c. 2686–2613 BC). People are depicted playing Senet in a painting in the tomb of Rashepes, as well as other tombs dating to c. 2500 BC. The oldest complete Senet boards date to the Middle Kingdom.
Senet was played in neighbouring cultures, probably arriving there through trade links with the Egyptians. It has been found in the Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...
at sites such as Arad and Byblos
Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occupied between 880 ...
, as well as in Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
. Because of the local practice of making games out of stone, more Senet games have survived in Cyprus than in Egypt.
Classical period
![Tabula - boardgame - Zeno game](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Tabula_-_boardgame_-_Zeno_game.svg)
Byzantine Empire
Tabula
Tabula may refer to:
*Tabula (company), a semiconductor company
*Tabula (game), a game thought to be the predecessor to backgammon
* ''Tabula'' (magazine), a magazine published in Tbilisi, Georgia
*Tabula ansata, a tablet with handles
See also
* ...
(also called Alea Alea or ALEA may refer to:
Places
* Alea (Arcadia), a town of ancient Arcadia, Greece, located near the modern town in Argolis
* Alea (Thessaly), a town of ancient Thessaly, Greece
* Alea, Arcadia, a village in the municipal unit Tegea, Arcadia, ...
, ''Tablē'' or ''Tάβλι''), is the oldest identifiable tables game. It is described in an epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...
of Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
Emperor Zeno
Zeno (; grc-gre, Ζήνων, Zénōn; c. 425 – 9 April 491) was Eastern Roman emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in forei ...
(AD 476–491). It had the typical tables board layout with 24 rectangular points, 12 on each side. Each player had 15 men
A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chrom ...
and used cubical dice
Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...
with sides numbered one to six. The object of the game was to be the first to bear off
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to ...
all of one's men. Modern Backgammon follows the similar rules to Tabula. The key differences being that Tabula uses an extra die (three rather than two), there is no doubling die or bar, and all the tablemen start off the board. Interestingly, the rules in Backgammon for re-entering pieces from the bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
are the same as those in Tabula for entering pieces
Piece or Pieces (not to be confused with peace) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Games
* Piece (chess), pieces deployed on a chessboard for playing the game of chess
* ''Pieces'' (video game), a 1994 puzzle game for the Super NES
* P ...
from off the board, along with those for hitting a blot, and bearing off.[Robert Charles Bell, ''Board and table games from many civilizations'', Courier Dover Publications, 1979, , pp. 33–35.] The name is still used for tables games in Greece, where they are frequently played in town plateia
Plateia or Platia (''πλατεία'') is the Greek word for town square. Most Greek and Cypriot cities have several town squares which are a point of reference in travelling and guiding. In traditional societies like villages and provincial commu ...
s and cafes. The epigram of Zeno describes a particularly bad dice roll the emperor had for his given position. Zeno, who was white, had a stack
Stack may refer to:
Places
* Stack Island, an island game reserve in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia, in Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group
* Blue Stack Mountains, in Co. Donegal, Ireland
People
* Stack (surname) (including a list of people ...
of seven men, three stacks of two men and two blots, men that stood alone on a point and were therefore in danger of being put outside the board by an incoming opposing man. Zeno threw the three dice with which the game was played and obtained 2, 5 and 6. The rules meant that Zeno could not move to a space
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
occupied by two opposing (black) men. The black and white tablemen were so distributed on the points that the only way to use all three results, as required by the game rules, was to break the three stacks of two men into blots, exposing them and ruining the game for Zeno.
Roman Empire
The of Zeno's time is believed to be a direct descendant of the earlier Roman ''Ludus duodecim scriptorum
Ludus duodecim scriptorum, or XII scripta, was a board game popular during the time of the Roman Empire. The name translates as "game of twelve markings", probably referring to the three rows of 12 markings each found on most surviving boards. Th ...
'' ('Game of Twelve Lines') with the board's middle row of points removed, and only the two outer rows remaining. used a board with three rows of 12 points each, with the 15 men being moved in opposing directions by the two players across three rows according to the roll of the three cubical dice. Little specific text about the play of has survived; it may have been related to the older Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
dice game ''Kubeia''. The earliest known mention of the game is in Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
's ''Ars Amatoria
The ''Ars amatoria'' ( en, The Art of Love) is an instructional elegy series in three books by the ancient Roman poet Ovid. It was written in 2 AD.
Background
Book one of ''Ars amatoria'' was written to show a man how to find a woman. In book two ...
'' ('The Art of Love'), written between 1 BC and 8 AD. In Roman times, this game was also known as ''Alea'', and a likely apocryphal Latin story linked this name, and the game, to a Trojan
Trojan or Trojans may refer to:
* Of or from the ancient city of Troy
* Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 1890 ...
soldier named Alea Alea or ALEA may refer to:
Places
* Alea (Arcadia), a town of ancient Arcadia, Greece, located near the modern town in Argolis
* Alea (Thessaly), a town of ancient Thessaly, Greece
* Alea, Arcadia, a village in the municipal unit Tegea, Arcadia, ...
.
Nard period (
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
)
Middle East
In the 11th century Shahnameh
The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,00 ...
, the Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
n poet Ferdowsi
Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a sin ...
credits Burzoe
Borzuya (or Burzōē or Burzōy or Borzouyeh, ) was a Persian physician in the late Sassanid era, at the time of Khosrow I. He translated the Indian '' Panchatantra'' from Sanskrit into Pahlavi (Middle Persian). Both his translation and the or ...
with the invention of the game of Nard in the 6th century. He describes an encounter between Burzoe and a Raja
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...
visiting from India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The Raja introduces the game of chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
, and Burzoe demonstrates Nard, played with dice made from ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...
and teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...
.[Wilkinson, Charles K. "Chessmen and Chess", ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin''. New Series 1:9, May 1943. pp. 271–279]
Meanwhile Persian tradition places the invention of nard in the 3rd or even 6th century AD. The name of the game nard is an abbreviated version of the original Persian name ''nardšir''. The Middle-Persian text, ''Kār-nāmag ī Ardaxšēr ī Pāpakān'', associates the invention of nard with Ardashir I
Ardashir I (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥, Modern Persian: , '), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new emp ...
(r. 224-41), the founder of the Sasanian dynasty
The Sasanian dynasty was the house that founded the Sasanian Empire, ruling this empire from 224 to 651 AD in Persia (modern-day Iran). It began with Ardashir I, who named the dynasty as ''Sasanian'' in honour of his grandfather (or father), Sasa ...
, whereas in the Middle Persian narrative ''Wičārišn ī čatrang ud nihišn ī nēw-ardaxšēr'' (Explanation of Chess and the Invention of Nardshir) it is Bozorgmehr Bokhtagan
Bozorgmehr-e Bokhtagan (Middle Persian: ''Wuzurgmihr ī Bōkhtagān''), also known as Burzmihr, Dadmihr and Dadburzmihr, was an Iranian sage and dignitary from the Karen family, who served as minister ('' wuzurg framadār'') of the Sasanian king ...
, the vizier of Khosrow I
Khosrow I (also spelled Khosrau, Khusro or Chosroes; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩; New Persian: []), traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan ( [] "the Immortal Soul"), was the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from ...
(r. 531-79), who is credited with the invention of the game.
Far East
Nard was popular in China for a time and was known as "shuanglu" (, ), with the book () written during the Southern Song
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. ...
period (1127–1279) recording over ten variants. Over time it was replaced by other games such as ''xiangqi
''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' ch ...
'' (Chinese chess).
In Japan, '' ban-sugoroku'' is thought to have been brought from China in the 6th century, and is mentioned in Genji monogatari. As a gambling game, it was made illegal several times. In the early Edo
Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo.
Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...
era, a new and fast gambling game called ''Chō-han
''Chō-Han Bakuchi'' or simply is a traditional Japanese gambling game using dice.
Gameplay
The game uses two standard six-sided dice, which are shaken in a bamboo cup or bowl by a dealer. The cup is then overturned onto the floor. Players th ...
'' appeared and ''sugoroku'' quickly dwindled. By the 13th century, the board game Go, originally played only by the aristocracy, had become popular among the general public.
In Korea, a similar game exists known as .
Europe
In English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, the word "tables" is derived from Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''tabula''. Its first use referring to board games documented by the Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
was circa AD 700.["table, n.", ]
The Oxford English Dictionary
'' Second Edition, 1989. (Subscription required)
The Gloucester tabula set, Discovered on the site of Gloucester Castle
Gloucester Castle was a Norman-era royal castle situated in the city of Gloucester in Gloucestershire, England. It was demolished in 1787 and replaced by Gloucester Prison.
Early Norman motte and bailey castle
It was probably constructed ...
in 1983, with its obelisk
An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...
shaped points provides a potential transitional phase between the Roman square points, and the triangular points that were common in the 13th century.
The ('Games of Tables') first appeared in France during the 11th century and became a favorite pastime of gamblers. In 1254, Louis IX
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...
issued a decree prohibiting his court officials and subjects from playing. Tables games were played in Germany in the 12th century, and had reached Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
by the 13th century. In Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, the Alfonso X
Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...
manuscript ''Libro de los juegos
The ''Libro de los juegos'' (Spanish: "Book of games"), or ''Libro de axedrez, dados e tablas'' ("Book of chess, dice and tables", in Old Spanish), was a Spanish language, Spanish translation of Arabic texts on chess, dice and Tables games, tabl ...
'', completed in 1283, describes rules for a number of dice and table games in addition to its extensive discussion of chess.[Wollesen, Jens T. "Sub specie ludi...: Text and Images in Alfonso El Sabio's Libro de Acedrex, Dados e Tablas", ''Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte'' 53:3, 1990. pp. 277–308.] Tables games were played in Germany in the 12th century, and had reached Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
by the 13th century.
In 1254, Louis IX
Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...
issued a decree prohibiting his court officials and subjects from playing dice games.[Lillich, Meredith Parsons. "The Tric-Trac Window of Le Mans", ''The Art Bulletin'' 65:1, March 1983. pp. 23–33.]
Mediaeval tables should not be confused with ''Tafl
Tafl games (pronounced avl also known as hnefatafl games) are a family of ancient Nordic and Celtic strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers. Most probably they are based upon the Rom ...
'', an unrelated class of board games (albeit linguistically related) played in medieval Scandinavia. Tâb
Tâb is the Egyptian name of a running-fight board game played in several Muslim (mostly Arab) countries, and a family of similar board games played in North Africa (as ''sîg'') and Western Asia, from Iran to West Africa and from Turkey to Som ...
and tablan (as well as the related games sáhkku
Sáhkku is a board game of the Sami people. The game is traditional among the North Sámi, Skolt Sámi, Inari Sámi and Lule Sámi but may also have been played in other parts of Sápmi.
Rules
Sáhkku is a running-fight game, which means that pl ...
and daldøs
Daldøs ø.html"_;"title="al'dø">al'døsis_a_Running-fight_game.html" ;"title="ø">al'døs.html" ;"title="ø.html" ;"title="al'dø">al'døs">ø.html" ;"title="al'dø">al'døsis a Running-fight game">running-fight board game only known from a f ...
) may, on the other hand, be descendants of tabula.
Modern period
Europe
By the 17th century, table games had spread to Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. A wooden board and counters were recovered from the wreck of the ''Vasa'' among the belongings of the ship's officers. Tables games appear widely in paintings of this period, mainly those of Dutch and German painters, such as Van Ostade, Jan Steen
Jan Havickszoon Steen (c. 1626 – buried 3 February 1679) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, one of the leading genre painters of the 17th century. His works are known for their psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour.
Life ...
, Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...
, and Bruegel. Some surviving artworks are ''Cardsharps'' by Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi (Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, known as simply Caravaggio (, , ; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of hi ...
(the tables board is in the lower left) and ''The Triumph of Death
''The Triumph of Death'' is an oil panel painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted c. 1562. It has been in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1827.
Description
The painting shows a panorama of an army of skeletons wreaking havoc across a bl ...
'' by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genr ...
(the tables board is in the lower right). Others include ''Hell'' (Bosch) and ''Interior of an Inn'' by Jan Steen.
The rise of Backgammon
Contrary to popular belief Backgammon is not the oldest board game in the world, nor are all tables games variants of Backgammon. In fact, the earliest known mention of Backgammon was in a letter dated 1635 and it was a variant of the popular mediaeval Anglo-Scottish game of Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
. By the 19th century it had superseded other tables games in popularity and spread abroad to Europe and America. The scoring rules have changed over time and a doubling cube added that enables players to raise the stakes.
Backgammon's predecessor was the tables game of Irish, which was popular at the Scottish court of James IV and considered "the more serious and solid game" when Backgammon began to emerge in the first half of the 17th century. In the 16th century, Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
laws and church regulations had prohibited playing tables in England, but by the 18th century, tables games were on the rise again and Backgammon had superseded Irish and become popular among the English clergy. Edmond Hoyle
Edmond Hoyle (167229 August 1769) was an English writer best known for his works on the rules and play of card games. The phrase "according to Hoyle" (meaning "strictly according to the rules") came into the language as a reflection of his gene ...
published ''A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon'' in 1753; this described rules and strategy for the game and was bound together with a similar text on whist
Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. Although the rules are simple, there is scope for strategic play.
History
Whist is a descendant of the 16th-century game of ''trump'' ...
.
In English, the word "backgammon" is most likely derived from "back" and enm, gamen, meaning "game" or "play". The earliest mention of the game, which was under the name of ''Baggammon'', was by James Howell in a letter dated 1635. Meanwhile, the first use documented by the Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
was in 1650. In 1666, it is reported that the "old name for backgammon used by Shakespeare and others" was Tables. However, it is clear from Willughby that "tables" was a generic name and that the phrase "playing at tables" was used in a similar way to "playing at cards".[Willughby (c. 1660-1672), entries for "Cards", "Tables", "Irish" and "Back Gammon."]
The most recent major development in backgammon was the addition of the doubling cube. It was first introduced in the 1920s in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
among members of gaming clubs in the Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
. The cube required players not only to select the best move in a given position, but also to estimate the probability of winning from that position, transforming backgammon into the expected value
In probability theory, the expected value (also called expectation, expectancy, mathematical expectation, mean, average, or first moment) is a generalization of the weighted average. Informally, the expected value is the arithmetic mean of a l ...
-driven game played in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The popularity of backgammon surged in the mid-1960s, in part due to the charisma of Prince Alexis Obolensky
Prince Alexis Obolensky Jr. (April 20, 1915 – February 8, 1986), a Russian-American socialite and sometimes called the "father of modern backgammon," was a member of the princely Obolensky family of the Rurik Dynasty.
Early life
Obolensky was b ...
who became known as "The Father of Modern Backgammon". "Obe", as he was called by friends, co-founded the International Backgammon Association, which published a set of official rules. He also established the World Backgammon Club of Manhattan, devised a backgammon tournament system in 1963, then organized the first major international backgammon tournament in March 1964, which attracted royalty, celebrities and the press. The game became a huge fad and was played on college campuses, in discothèques
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
and at country clubs;[ stockbrokers and bankers began playing at conservative men's clubs.] People young and old all across the country dusted off their boards and 'checkers'. Cigarette, liquor and car companies began to sponsor tournaments, and Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...
held backgammon parties at the Playboy Mansion
The Playboy Mansion, also known as the Playboy Mansion West, is the former home of ''Playboy'' magazine founder Hugh Hefner who lived there from 1974 until his death in 2017. Barbi Benton convinced Hefner to buy the home located in Holmby Hills ...
. Backgammon clubs were formed and tournaments were held, resulting in a World Championship promoted in Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
in 1967.[
Most recently, the ]United States Backgammon Federation
The World Backgammon Federation (WBGF), formerly the European Backgammon Federation (EUBGF) until 2018, is the international body established to support and promote the tables game of backgammon worldwide.
Their functions include the regulation o ...
(USBGF) was organized in 2009 to re-popularize the game in the United States. Board and committee members include many of the top players, tournament directors and writers in the worldwide backgammon community. The USBGF has recently created
Standards of Ethical Practice
to address issues which tournament rules fail to touch.
Tables games by region
Europe
France
Trictrac
Trictrac is a French board game of skill and chance for two players that is played with dice on a board (game), game board similar, but not identical, to that of backgammon. It was "the classic tables game" of France in the way that backgammon is ...
was the classic French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
tables game of the 17th and 18th centuries in the same way that backgammon that now is in the English-speaking world.[Parlett (1999), p. 86.] There are two main forms of the game, ''le Grand Trictrac'' and ''le Petit Trictrac.'' However, it is not a race game; rather the main aim is to score points.
In Trictrac, the starting point is called a ''talon'', the points, or ''fleches'', are numbered to 12 on both sides of the board, with the 12th point on either side called the ''coin de repos'', or, simply, ''coin''. The 11th point (on either side) is often called ''le case d'écolier'', or 'schoolboy's point' (''case'' meaning 'square', literally) after the tendency of inexperienced players to rush to this point too soon in the game. Statistically, the most difficult points in the game to reach aside from the ''coins'' are the 8th points, and they are named ''les fleches de diable'', or ' the Devil's points', for this reason. The home boards are referred to as the ''jan de retour'' by either player. Doubles are treated as two identical numbers.
Trictrac was superseded by the much simpler game of Jacquet during the 19th century, a race game with a number of distinctive features. First, players circulated the board in the same direction rather than in opposing directions. Second, players could not move the majority of their pieces until the first piece, the 'courier' or 'postilion', had reached the final quadrant. Jacquet was largely ousted by Anglo-American games in the 1960s, but its rules are still published and boards are still manufactured.[
Tourne Case is another old French tables game and more one of chance than skill. Using a tables board, each player only takes 3 pieces. The aim is to enter them onto the board using the throws of the dice and be first to move all 3 to the 'home corner' (''coin de repos'') on the 12th point of the board. The men may not pass over one another nor may there be more than one on a point except in the home corner. If a man moves to a point opposite that of an opposing man, the latter is 'hit'. It must be removed from the board and re-entered from the start.
]
Greece and Cyprus
Tables games are popular among the Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
. These games are called Tavli, derived in Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
times from the Latin word . A game of the tables family called Tavli
Tavli (Greek: Τάβλι), sometimes called Greek Backgammon in English, is the most popular way of playing tables games (or 'backgammon games') in Greece and Cyprus and is their national board game.Byzantine Greek
Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman co ...
: ) is described in an epigram of the Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
Emperor Zeno
Zeno (; grc-gre, Ζήνων, Zénōn; c. 425 – 9 April 491) was Eastern Roman emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in forei ...
(AD 476–481). The games of Tavli
Tavli (Greek: Τάβλι), sometimes called Greek Backgammon in English, is the most popular way of playing tables games (or 'backgammon games') in Greece and Cyprus and is their national board game.Plakoto
Plakoto (Πλακωτό) is a tables game for two players that is popular in Greece. The object is for the player to bring all 15 pieces around to his or her own home board and then bear them off. The player who bears off all 15 pieces first wi ...
is very similar to Mahbusa or tapa
Tapa, TAPA, Tapas or Tapasya may refer to:
Media
*Tapas (website), a webtoon site, formerly known as Tapastic
* ''Tapas'' (film), a 2005 Spanish film
* ''Tapasya'' (1976 film), an Indian Hindi-language film
* ''Tapasya'' (1992 film), a Nepalese f ...
. It has some general similarities with Portes, but with a different opening layout of the pieces and blots are pinned (so they cannot move) instead of being hit.
* Fevga is similar to Narde or the Turkish variant Moultezim. It is a running game of parallel movement
The following is a glossary of terms used in tables games, essentially games played on a Backgammon-type board. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific (e.g. specific to a single game like Backgammon or Acey-deucey), but applicable to ...
; players moving in the same direction. There is not hitting or pinning and a point is blocked to the opponent even when occupied by a single piece.
The three games are normally played consecutively, in three-, five- or seven-point matches. Before starting a match, each player rolls 1 die, and the player with the highest roll picks up both dice and re-rolls (i.e. it is possible to roll doubles for the opening move). Players use the same pair of dice in turns. After the first game, the winner of the previous game starts first. Each game counts as 1 point, if the opponent has borne off at least 1 stone, otherwise 2 points. There is no doubling cube. Tavli is considered the national board game of Cyprus and Greece.
Other Greek tables games include:
* Gul or Multezim is Fevga with the feature that, on a double, one has to play all doubles subsequently till the 6–6. If a dice throw cannot be fulfilled in any way, his opponent takes the turn for the remaining moves of that throw.
* Asodio is a game where all pieces are off the board at the outset and players enter either by rolling doubles or an Ace-Deuce combination.
* Sfaktes means "slayers".["Tavli (Greek Backgammon)".](_blank)
''Backgammon Galore''. Retrieved on August 8, 2006.
* Evraiko (Jewish), a much simpler game depending entirely on luck with no room for skill.
Romania
In Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
, ''tablă'' (meaning "board", cognate of the Latin ''tabula'') has two variations: there is no doubling cube and a backgammon counts only as a gammon (called ''marț''). Matches are usually played to three points.
Sweden
Bräde or svenskt brädspel ("Swedish Tables") is an elaborate version of the historical game verquere that is played in Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. Players start with all 15 of their counters on opposite corners of the board, and play around counter-clockwise. Besides bearing off, there are several other ways to win, such as arranging all of one's counters in certain pre-determined patterns, or by hitting so many counters that one's opponent can not bring them in again. Additional points are awarded for a victory while one's opponent has counters on the bar. Brädspel is played without the doubling cube.[Helmfrid, Sten, ''et al.'' ]
The Game of Swedish Tables
' DF February 26, 2003. Retrieved on August 12, 2006. Interest in brädspel experienced a resurgence following the recovery of a 17th-century board from the wreck of the Vasa.["Vasamuseet — The Swedish-Tables Association"](_blank)
, ''The Vasa Museum''. Retrieved on August 12, 2006.
A tables board was also recovered from the wreck of the English ship Mary Rose
The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her l ...
, which sank a century earlier in 1545. It is on display at the Mary Rose Museum
The Mary Rose Museum is a historical museum located at Historic Dockyards in Portsmouth in the United Kingdom run by the Mary Rose Trust.
Overview
The museum is dedicated to the 16th-century Tudor navy warship ''Mary Rose'' as well as the hist ...
in Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
.
Far East
There are two games known as ''sugoroku
(literally 'double six') refers to two different forms of a Japanese board game: ''ban-sugoroku'' (盤双六, 'board-sugoroku') which is similar to western tables games like Backgammon, and ''e-sugoroku'' (絵双六, 'picture-sugoroku') which is ...
'' (双六) in Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. One more closely resembles Snakes and Ladders, while the other is played on a 24-point tables board, using standard tables equipment. The starting position is identical to that of backgammon
Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...
, however it differs from most other tables variants in that the pieces are never borne off. Additionally, the use of primes is not permitted.
Middle East and Central Asia
Tables games are played widely in the Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
. The most popular is known as in Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
(meaning "table"). This may represent a shared name origin with the Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
or Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
tables games. The game is called in Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. In Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, many Arabic-speaking countries, it is known as Shesh Besh, which is a rhyming combination ''shesh'', meaning six in Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
, Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
and Northwest Semitic
Northwest Semitic is a division of the Semitic languages comprising the indigenous languages of the Levant. It emerged from Proto-Semitic language, Proto-Semitic in the Early Bronze Age. It is first attested in proper names identified as Amorite ...
, and ''besh'', meaning five in Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
). It is also played by some Kurdish, Persian and Turkish speakers. ''Shesh besh'' is commonly used to refer to when a player scores a 5 and 6 at the same time on dice.
The name Nardshir comes from the Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
''nard'' (Wooden block) and ''shir'' (lion) referring to the two type of pieces used in play. A common legend associates the game with the founder of the Sassanian dynasty, Ardashir I
Ardashir I (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭥𐭲𐭧𐭱𐭲𐭥, Modern Persian: , '), also known as Ardashir the Unifier (180–242 AD), was the founder of the Sasanian Empire. He was also Ardashir V of the Kings of Persis, until he founded the new emp ...
. The oldest known reference to the game is thought to be a passage in the Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
.
Mahbusa means "imprisoned". Each player begins with 15 counters on his opponent's 24-point. If a counter is hit, it is not placed on the bar, but instead, the hitting piece is placed on top, and the point is then controlled by the hitting player. The counter which has been hit is 'imprisoned' and cannot be moved until the opponent removes his piece. Sometimes, a rule is used that requires a player to bring his first counter around to his home board before moving any others. In any case, a rapid advance to one's own home board is desirable, as imprisoning the opponent's counter there is highly advantageous. Mahbusa is similar to ''tapa
Tapa, TAPA, Tapas or Tapasya may refer to:
Media
*Tapas (website), a webtoon site, formerly known as Tapastic
* ''Tapas'' (film), a 2005 Spanish film
* ''Tapasya'' (1976 film), an Indian Hindi-language film
* ''Tapasya'' (1992 film), a Nepalese f ...
''.
Many of the early Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
texts which refer to the game comment on the debate regarding the legality and morality of playing the game. This debate was settled by the eighth century when all four Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
schools of jurisprudence declared the game to be Haraam
''Haram'' (; ar, حَرَام, , ) is an Arabic term meaning 'Forbidden'. This may refer to either something sacred to which access is not allowed to the people who are not in a state of purity or who are not initiated into the sacred knowle ...
(forbidden), however the game is still played today in many Arab countries.
In the modern Middle East, tables games are a common feature of coffeehouse
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
s. Today they continue to be commonly played in various forms in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and throughout the Arab world.
A feature of tables play in some Arab countries is that Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
numbers, rather than Arabic ones, are called out by a player announcing his dice
Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...
rolls.
Armenia
Nardi ( hy, նարդի) is very popular among Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
. The word is derived from Persian word ( fa, نرد, rtl=yes). There are two games of Nardi commonly played:
Short Nardi: the local name for Backgammon; same setup and rules.
Long Nardi: A game that starts with all fifteen pieces are placed in a line on the 24-point and on the 11-point. The two players move their pieces in parallel directions, from the 24-point towards the 1-point, or home board. In Long Nardi, one piece by itself can block a point. There is no hitting in Long Nardi. The objective of the game is bearing all pieces off the board, and there is no doubling cube.
Iran
Nard is the name for the Persian tables game. H. J. R. Murray details many versions of tables games; his description of modern Persian ''Nard'' has the same layout and scheme of movement as backgammon. He suggests that it may date back, perhaps in an older form, to 300–500 AD in the Babylonian Talmud, although others believe the Talmud references the Greek race game ''Kubeia''.
People in the Iranian plateau
The Iranian plateau or Persian plateau is a geological feature in Western Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia. It comprises part of the Eurasian Plate and is wedged between the Arabian Plate and the Indian Plate; situated between the Zagros ...
and Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
region, especially in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
and Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, are very fond of playing narde. All 15 of a player's counters are initially positioned on his own 24-point, but there is a major difference. One is forbidden to put his counter at a point occupied by one's opponent's counter, so there is no hitting or imprisonment in the long narde game. The main strategy is to secure playing "big pairs" by one's own counter and prevent as much as possible doing the same by the opponent.
The game is known as 'Fevga' in Greece, 'Moultezim' in Turkey, Mahbusa in the Middle East and 'Ifranjiah' or ''Frankish'' in Arabia. It can also be spelt as 'Nard' or 'Nardi'.
A version known as ''short narde'' is a simplified form of Ifranjiah. In Georgia, ifranjiah is played as elsewhere, but called "nardi". In Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia many experienced players also play long narde, which some see as requiring deeper strategy.
One of the most famous narde championships is the championship of Azerbaijan – Gizil Zar – Golden Dawn. The winner is awarded with gold dice.
Gul bara
Gul bara is a tables game, an ancient genre of board games that includes Backgammon, Trictrac and Nard. It is also called Rosespring Backgammon or Crazy Narde. The aim of the game is to move all of one's men around the board and bear them off. ...
, sometimes referred to as "Rosespring Backgammon" or "Crazy Narde", is a tables game in which there is no hitting.
Turkey
Tavla (from Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman co ...
τάβλη or from Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
"tawleh"), is a very popular game in Turkey. It lacks a doubling cube, gammons and backgammons are counted as two points called ''mars'' and the players may not hit and run in their home boards. Matches are usually played to five points. It is customary to call the dice rolls their Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
number names, with local spellings: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6).
There are many variants of Tavla in Turkey, where the course of play changes drastically. The usual tavla is also known as erkek tavlası meaning boys' or men's tavla. The other variant kız tavlası (meaning girls' tavla) is a game which depends only on the dice and involves no strategy. There is another variant called asker tavlası (meaning soldiers' tavla) where the pieces are thrown to the board randomly and the opponents try to flip their pieces over the opponents' pieces to beat them. The player with no pieces left loses the game. This variant doesn't involve dice at all and the play depends more on hand-eye coordination than tactical decision making. Üniversite tavlası (university tavla) is a variant of the game played with two or more tavlas and four or more players, with the players forming groups. The dice are thrown only by two opposing players and the rest must play the same dice. If a team member gets beaten and cannot enter, his teammates cannot play for that round. Although the dice are the same, the game on every board differs, where the case of one team member winning and another losing is very common. This variant is considered much harder because the player must take more than one play into account while only being capable of making decisions on his own board.
The usual Tavla rules are same as in the neighbouring Arab countries and Greece, as established over a millennium ago, but there are also many quite different variants. The usual tavla is also known as , meaning ''boys or ''men's tavla''. The other variant, , meaning ''girls' tavla'', is a game that depends only on the dice and involves no strategy. Another variant, , meaning ''soldiers' tavla'', has the pieces thrown on the board randomly. Players try to flip their pieces over the opponents' pieces to beat them.
Hapis (Turkish for "prison") is another tables game played in Turkey. It is very similar to Mahbusa played in the Arab World
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
.
Historical tables games
Many of the ancestors of modern tables games are no longer widely played.
13th century Spanish games
*Games described in the royal book of games, ''Libro de los Juegos
The ''Libro de los juegos'' (Spanish: "Book of games"), or ''Libro de axedrez, dados e tablas'' ("Book of chess, dice and tables", in Old Spanish), was a Spanish language, Spanish translation of Arabic texts on chess, dice and Tables games, tabl ...
'':
** Quinze Tablas (Fifteen Pieces)
** Doce Canes or Doce Hermanos (Twelve Dogs or Twelve Brothers)
** Doblet (Doublet), related to the English game of Doublets
** Fallas (Drop Dead), related to the English game of Fayles
** Seys Does e As (Six, Two and Ace), related to the English game of Six-Ace
** Emperador (Emperor)
** Medio-Emperador (Half Emperor)
** Paireia de Entrada (Paired Entry)
** Cab e Quinal (Alongside Fives)
** Todas Tablas (All Pieces), related to the Anglo-Scottish game of Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
** Laquet
Laquet is an historical Castilian tables game that was described as a new game in the 13th century. It may be the ancestor of Jacquet. Unlike Backgammon and most other tables games, it has an asymmetrical starting position; only three of the fo ...
, related to the French game of Jacquet
** Buffa Cortesa (Courtly Puff), related to the German game of Puff
** Buffa de Baldrac (Common Puff)
** Rencontrat
16th and 17th century English games
*Games described by Willughby (1672):
** Dublets
** Ticktack
Ticktack or Tick-Tack, is an historical English tables game for two players using a board similar to that used today for Backgammon and other tables games. Like its much more elaborate French counterpart, Trictrac, it has the unusual feature that ...
** Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
, 16th and 17th century British game; directly ancestral to Backgammon.
** Early Backgammon
* Additional games described by Cotton (1674):
** Sice-Ace
** Catch-Dolt (Ketch-Dolt)
* Additional games described by Seymour (1754):
** Verquere
** Grand Trick Track, related to French Trictrac
Trictrac is a French board game of skill and chance for two players that is played with dice on a board (game), game board similar, but not identical, to that of backgammon. It was "the classic tables game" of France in the way that backgammon is ...
* Additional games described by Murray (1941):
**Queens Game
**Fails (or Fayles)
** Lurch
See also
*Mancala
The mancala games are a family of two-player turn-based strategy board games played with small stones, beans, or seeds and rows of holes or pits in the earth, a board or other playing surface. The objective is usually to capture all or some ...
('sowing' or seed games)
Footnotes
References
Literature
* Bell, R.C. (1979) ''Board And Table Games From Many Civilizations'' (revised edition with two volumes dated 1960 and 1969 bound into a single book) – Dover Publications, Mineola, New York
Mineola is a village in and the county seat of Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from an Algonquin Chief, Miniolagamika, which means "pleasant village".
...
, 1979. ; reprinted by Exeter Books, New York City, 1983.
* Fallavel J.M. (1715)
''Le Jeu du trictrac, Enrichi De Figures Avec les Jeux du Revertier, du Toute-Table, du Tourne-Case, de Dames Rabattues, du Plain et du Toc.''
3rd edn. Paris: Henry Charpentier.
* Murray, H. J. R. (1952). ''A History of Board-Games other than Chess''. 1st pub. 1952, Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, reissued by Hacker Art Books (1978),
* Finkel, Irving
Irving Leonard Finkel (born 1951) is a British philologist and Assyriologist. He is the Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East in the British Museum, where he specialises in c ...
(2007)
"On the Rules for the Royal Game of Ur"
in ''Ancient Board Games in Perspective'' ed. Irving Finkel. London: British Museum. pp. 16–32.
* Fiske, Willard
Daniel Willard Fiske (November 11, 1831 – September 17, 1904) was an American librarian and scholar, born on November 11, 1831, at Ellisburg, New York.
Biography
Fiske studied at Cazenovia Seminary and started his collegiate studies at Hamil ...
(1905)
''Chess in Iceland and Icelandic Literature: with historical notes on other table-games''
Florence: Florentine Typographical Society.
* Parlett, David
David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association.
His published works include many pop ...
(1999)
"The Tables Turned: Backgammon from Ur to Us" in ''The Oxford History of Board Games''
Oxford: OUP, pp. 58–87.
External links
''Fevga or Moultezim or Tawla 31''
- rules.
''Plakoto'' (''Mahbooseh'')
- rules.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tables (Board Game)
Traditional board games
ar:لعبة الطاولة
el:Τάβλι