The history of backgammon and nardy
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games still played today. Here's what is actually known about its history — and what remains legend.
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Ancient race games with dice
Games in which pieces race around a board by the throw of dice go back to the 3rd millennium BC. The most famous is the Royal Game of Ur from Mesopotamia: a board from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, now in the British Museum, dates to around 2600–2400 BC. In 2004 archaeologists reported a board with pieces from Shahr-e Sukhteh (the "Burnt City") in eastern Iran — the press called it "the oldest backgammon", although its board is different. These are not direct ancestors of backgammon but members of the same family of dice race games.
The Roman tabula
In the Roman Empire people played ludus duodecim scriptorum, "the game of twelve lines", and later tabula. Tabula already had 24 points and 15 checkers per side — just like today. A description of a game played by the Byzantine emperor Zeno (around AD 480) even survives: an epigram by Agathias of Myrina analyzes his unlucky throw that wrecked his whole position. The differences from the modern game: three dice, and checkers that started off the board.
The Persian legend
Persian tradition tells how an Indian king sent chess to the court of Shah Khosrow I Anushirvan and challenged the Persians to work out its rules. The sage Bozorgmehr did — and in reply invented a new game, which he named after the founder of the Sasanian dynasty: nēw-ardashir, "brave Ardashir". The legend was written down in a Middle Persian treatise on the invention of chess and nard, and retold in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. That name is where the word nard — and the Russian nardy — comes from.
The same treatise describes the game as a model of the world: the board is the earth, the 30 checkers are the days and nights of the month (15 light and 15 dark), and their movement is the motion of the stars and the heavens.
The Caucasus, Central Asia and Russia
From Persia the game spread across the Middle East: Turkish tavla, Arabic tawla, Israeli shesh besh, Greek tavli. By the 17th century it was known as nardi in Georgia and Azerbaijan, and the word nardy reached Russia through the Caucasus. That's also where the traditional names of the rolls come from — shesh-besh, du-shesh, dubara (see the glossary) — a mix of Persian and Turkic numbers.
In the Caucasus and Central Asia nardy is part of street and family life: Yerevan, Sumgait and Vladikavkaz all have monuments to nardy players. It's here that the no-hitting variant became the most popular — long nardy.
Backgammon in Europe and America
In Europe the game took its own path. The English word backgammon is first recorded in the mid-17th century, and Edmond Hoyle later wrote one of the best-known treatises on the game. In the 1920s, New York gaming clubs introduced the doubling cube, which made the game both more exciting and deeper. Today backgammon is essentially short nardy with a doubling cube. (NARDEON plays without one: every game is worth a fixed 1, 2 or 3 points.)
Nardy today
In 2024 Russia's Ministry of Sport approved the rules of nardy as a sport, with several disciplines including long and short nardy. Championships are held, and most games moved online long ago: you can play an opponent from another city, a friend by link, or the computer.
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FAQ
Who invented backgammon?
Nobody knows for sure. A Persian legend credits the sage Bozorgmehr at the court of Shah Khosrow I, who invented it in reply to chess sent from India. But similar race games with dice existed thousands of years earlier.
Where does the word "nard" come from?
From the Middle Persian name of the game, nēw-ardashir — "brave (noble) Ardashir", in honor of Ardashir I, founder of the Sasanian dynasty. Nardy, nardi and narde all go back to it.
When did the word "backgammon" appear?
The English word backgammon is first recorded in the mid-17th century. The doubling cube came much later, in the 1920s, in New York gaming clubs.
Is nardy Armenian or Azerbaijani?
Neither, strictly speaking: games of this kind were known in Rome and Persia long before. The name — and, according to legend, the game itself — is Persian; it spread across the Middle East and the Caucasus. In the Caucasus it has been known since at least the 17th century, and every people there has its own traditions and names for the rolls.
Is nardy a sport?
Yes. In Russia nardy is officially recognized as a sport: the Ministry of Sport approved its rules in 2024, including the disciplines long nardy and short nardy.
Updated: October 24, 2026