That's History: Backgammon from Hoyle to the Computer Age

Backgammon's roots reach back thousands of years, a story told on our history of backgammon page. This page picks up where that one ends: how the English game got its name and its rules, how the doubling cube changed it, and how players and then computers turned it into the deep game it is today.

Where the name comes from

The word backgammon appears in English in the seventeenth century. The usual explanation is that it joins "back" with an old English word for game, "gamen". The "back" fits the game well: a checker that is hit has to go back and start its journey again. A Welsh origin is sometimes suggested, but the English explanation is the one most dictionaries give.

Hoyle and the first rules

In 1743 Edmond Hoyle, best known for his books on card games, published a treatise on backgammon. It set out the rules and gave advice on play, including the chances of rolling particular numbers. Hoyle's work helped fix the rules in England, and the basic movement he described is the one we use today. His name became so linked with rules that "according to Hoyle" came to mean "by the book".

The doubling cube

For two centuries the game changed little. The big innovation came in the 1920s, when players in New York clubs introduced the doubling cube. It lets a player offer to double the value of the game at any point before their roll; the opponent must accept or concede. The cube rewarded judgment as well as checker play: knowing when you are far enough ahead to double, and when you are well enough placed to accept. In today's match play, the cube is central, and rules such as the Crawford rule grew up around it. See rule variations for how it is used in matches.

The boom of the 1960s and 1970s

In the 1960s backgammon became fashionable again. Organized tournaments were held, clubs opened in big cities, and the game was played widely by the public. Books analyzing positions and probabilities began to appear, and strong players started to treat backgammon as a subject for serious study rather than a pastime. Through the 1970s the game reached a large audience, and the first world championship events were held in this period.

Monte Carlo since 1979

In 1979 the World Backgammon Championship began in Monte Carlo, and it has been held there since. It became the best known event in the game, drawing players from many countries. You can read more about it on our backgammon champions page.

Computers and bots

Computers entered the story early. In 1979 a program called BKG beat the reigning world champion, Luigi Villa, in an exhibition match, though luck played a large part in that result. The real change came in the early 1990s, when Gerald Tesauro's TD-Gammon learned to play by playing against itself with a neural network, and reached a strong level. Its choices challenged some accepted opening moves and ways of thinking.

Later neural-net programs became stronger than the best humans. Today, free tools such as GNU Backgammon and commercial ones such as eXtreme Gammon let anyone analyze their games, roll out positions and measure their errors. Theory that once took decades to develop now moves much faster, and many opening plays have been revised as a result. Players learn from bots the way chess players learn from engines. The game Hoyle described is the same, but our understanding of it is far deeper than ever before.