| Perhaps there are areas of remote Papua New | | | | coming into use in the home, farm and workshop, the |
| Guinea where the game has not yet penetrated, but | | | | materials used to make the backgammon set also |
| for most of the people reading this article, explaining | | | | evolved. Pottery replaced stone and bone, and sets |
| the components of the backgammon set is as | | | | began to be constructed in a more elaborate manner. |
| superfluous as describing what a pack of cards | | | | Although most backgammon sets would have been |
| contains. | | | | homemade, the commercial production of sets in the |
| The spread of the backgammon game from its | | | | last century brought cheap backgammon sets onto |
| ancestral home in today's Iran and Iraq, via the Roman | | | | the market. Even those who didn't have the means to |
| Empire and the Arab world across the globe is a | | | | make their own sets could now afford to buy their |
| fascinating historical story. Whereas so many ancient | | | | own set. At the upper end of the market, classy |
| games have been lost to us, yet how to play | | | | backgammon sets made of precious metals to grace |
| backgammon is known to millions of people today, is a | | | | the tables of kings and aristocrats also made an |
| question worth pondering. Obviously, the anonymous | | | | appearance. |
| inventors of the game hit on a winning recipe. The | | | | For the first five thousand years of the game's history, |
| backgammon rules simplicity has made the game an | | | | whatever materials backgammon sets were made of |
| easy one to learn and this has certainly helped | | | | they shared in common the fact that they were in |
| insurance its endurance. However, the adaptability of | | | | some way or another manufactured. The creation of |
| the game to changing times and tastes has without | | | | backgammon software in the past fifteen years has |
| doubt made a major contribution to the game's | | | | taken the game into new dimensions. When someone |
| successful transit through the ages. The transformation | | | | invites you to play backgammon today, they may just |
| of the backgammon set from stone to video offers | | | | as well be referring to online backgammon as the |
| one of the clearest indications of the game's durability. | | | | conventional offline variety of the game. The |
| According to ancient records and archaeological | | | | backgammon online developers have gone out of their |
| evidence, the first backgammon counters were made | | | | way to present a 3-D backgammon set that looks |
| of smooth stones, perhaps gathered from the edge of | | | | almost like the "real thing". Going out and looking for a |
| a stream. The dice would have been carved in bone. | | | | backgammon set to buy, or joining a club is no longer |
| The board may have been carved or painted on a flat | | | | necessary to participate in the game. Backgammon |
| piece of wood, or perhaps even scratched out in the | | | | has shown how well it adapts to the times. |
| earth. In line with the widening range of materials | | | | |