Of glory and gloom.

80% skill, 20% luck, 150% style! The seventies. The golden era of backgammon. Wildly patterned silk shirts, plenty of glitter and the odd slippery character. Pips Club LA, Studio 54, Vegas — yes, backgammon was once a disco game and very much good form. A few games and a few notes changing hands between charming rogues and the stars and starlets of pop culture. Names like Hugh Hefner, Muhammad Ali, Lucille Ball, Diana Ross and Tina Turner lend the game the shine of that era to this day.

But the game itself is far older. The oldest board is dated at a good 5,000 years. According to the Greek philosopher Plato, backgammon (Greek: Tavli) represents the movement of the earth and the planets, while chess represents war. Any number of stories have grown around it — some of them are worth telling, or philosophising about at the table. Have fun with it!

Rough boys and easy girls Did you know that modern backgammon is a direct descendant of the medieval “Wurfzabel”, and that it was generally played in brothels? The German word “Puff” for a brothel goes back to the sound of the dice rolling across the playing surface.

Legendary James Bond and Kamal Khan play backgammon in Octopussy (1983)

Life, the Universe and Everything According to the Babylonian Talmud (c. 500 CE) there is a cosmological symbolism behind the design of the board:

The board represents a year, with the 12 points of each half standing for the months of the year. The 24 points together symbolise the hours of a day, and the 30 checkers stand for the days of a month. The contrasting colours of the checkers symbolise day and night, and the sum of any two opposite faces of a die stands for the 7 days of a week.

In: H. J. R., Murray, "A History of Board-Games other than Chess", Oxford University, Clarendon Press, 1952), p. 115.

Backgammon dogs are the new cats! MADONNA plays backgammon against a dog in a Versace ad photographed by Steven Meisel in 1995. (Source: chicagopoint)

Joda, canine offspring at our fortnightly backgammon tournament of the Gammon Gonzos Berlin. (Photo: “Loca & Joda thinking” by Daniella Fay, 2018)

Backgammaniacs are inventive! Creativity right on the point: some checkers missing? No problem, just replace them with matchsticks and off you go… Leipzig Streetgammon Style!