If you sit down at a backgammon board today, with the doubling cube beside the board, play a multi-point match, and hear terms such as “equity,” “game plan,” “take,” “action,” or “policy” during the game, you are playing a version of backgammon that developed much of its modern identity over the past century.
Backgammon itself has thousands of years of history, but modern backgammon is much younger. The doubling cube in the 1920s, the standardization of rules in 1931, international tournaments in the 1960s, the wave of analytical books in the 1970s, and eventually the arrival of computers all changed the way players approached the game. The question was no longer simply “What roll will I get?” The more important question became: Given the roll I just got, what decision should I make?
What Is Modern Backgammon?
When we talk about “modern backgammon,” we are not referring to a new board or a new setup. The basic structure of the game still consists of the same 24 points and 15 checkers for each player. The main difference lies in competitive rules, decision-making tools, and the way the game is approached.
The doubling cube is one of the defining features of this era. Multi-point matches, standardized rules, organized tournaments, and more precise methods of recording results gradually became part of the game. Later, concepts such as Match Equity, Cube Equity, Error Rate, and computer analysis found their place in professional backgammon vocabulary.
The modern player does not think only about checker moves. They must also evaluate the match situation. A move that seems logical in a Money Game might require a different choice at 6–6 in a 7-point match. These subtleties are what distinguish modern competitive backgammon from casual play.
So “modern” here refers more to a way of thinking: instead of playing only by feel and experience, we also bring probability, position structure, risk, and the value of decisions into the equation.
The First Revolution in Modern Backgammon: Where Did the Double Come From?
The history of the doubling cube still has some unanswered questions. Historical sources generally associate the emergence of doubling with backgammon circles in New York in the mid-1920s, but there is no document that confidently identifies one person as its inventor.
Research by the New England Backgammon Club into printed sources from that period considers around 1925 the best estimate for the beginning of the doubling practice. Interestingly, doubling was not necessarily accompanied by a physical cube at first. In Grosvenor Nicholas's 1928 book Modern Backgammon, the player simply announces an increase in the value of the game, with no description of the modern cube.
This suggests that “doubling” probably came first, followed by the widespread use of a device for recording the value of the game. The cube we know today, marked with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64, may look like a simple object at first glance, but this small piece completely transformed the logic of the game.
Before doubling, the main question for a player was: “What is the best move with this roll?” Doubling introduced a second, and sometimes harder, question: “Is this the right time to increase the value of the game?” The opponent then has to decide whether continuing to play is still worthwhile. This is where probability and risk assessment become much more important.
Why Did the Doubling Cube Become So Important?
Suppose you have a strong position, but your win is not yet certain. Without the cube, you only need to find the best checker play. With the cube, another independent decision is added: Is your current advantage large enough to Double now, or is it still too early?
If you wait too long, the position may become so strong that your opponent will no longer accept continuing the game, and the opportunity to gain more value disappears. If you act too early, you may not have enough of an advantage. This is where concepts such as Cube Action and Cube Equity become meaningful.
Doubling becomes even more complicated in match play. The value of a game does not depend only on the checker position. The current match score also affects the decision. The same board position at two different scores does not necessarily have the same Cube Action.
So doubling was not merely a way to increase the value of a game. It created an entire new category of strategic questions. A large part of today's professional backgammon literature revolves around precisely these questions.
1928: When the Name “Modern Backgammon” Appeared on a Book Cover
In 1928, Grosvenor Nicholas published a book called Modern Backgammon. The title itself is interesting from a historical perspective: less than a century ago, a writer felt that backgammon had changed enough to distinguish the old game from the “modern game.”
The book's table of contents also reflects this change. Nicholas discusses the history of the game, its modern form, equipment, methods of play, Back Game, doubling, and rules. One chapter is directly titled The Modern Game, while another is devoted to Back Game and Doubling.
A 1930 article from TIME magazine also described Nicholas as one of the well-known figures in backgammon at the time and referred to the new wave of popularity surrounding the game and the role of doubling in it. In other words, “modern” was not merely an attractive choice of title by a publisher. Players really were experiencing a major change.
Of course, backgammon in 1928 was still not the professional game we know today. Doubling theory was in its early stages, there was no regular world tournament, and there were no analytical engines. But one of the foundations of today's game was already in place.
1931: When Backgammon Rules Became More Standardized
The rapid popularity of backgammon created another problem: not everyone was playing under exactly the same set of rules. Sources from the 1930s report disagreements among some clubs and authors over the rules of the game. For a competitive game, this was problematic.
On February 21, 1931, representatives of several clubs met at the invitation of the Racquet and Tennis Club of New York to establish a common set of rules. The resulting rules were published under the title Laws of Backgammon and came into effect on April 17 of the same year. The published version lists the names of 23 approving clubs.
The importance of these rules was not limited to standardizing checker movement. This was one of the first broad standardized rule sets to incorporate doubling into the formal structure of the game. Many principles that seem obvious today took on a more organized form during this period.
Of course, tournament rules continued to change over the following decades. Regulations concerning dice, scorekeeping, match clocks, and player conduct gradually became more precise. Nevertheless, 1931 remains one of the key dates in the path toward standardizing modern Backgammon.
From the Boom of the 1930s to the Quieter Years
The backgammon wave of the late 1920s and early 1930s was remarkable. New York clubs followed the game seriously, new books were published, and magazines wrote about it. But no cultural wave continues forever at the same intensity.
Economic changes and then World War II transformed the social environment of the United States and Europe. General interest in backgammon declined, and for a while the game continued mainly in clubs and private circles. Tournaments existed, but there was still nothing resembling today's regular global calendar.
This quieter period is important for one reason: backgammon did not disappear. Serious players continued playing, knowledge was passed on, and the club tradition continued. So when the next major wave arrived, everything did not have to start from zero.
That next wave arrived in the 1960s, this time with international tournaments, media coverage, and a man whose name became closely associated with the history of modern competition: Alexis Obolensky.
Alexis Obolensky and the Birth of the Modern International Tournament
Prince Alexis Obolensky, known in backgammon circles as “Oby,” played an important role in taking the game beyond the confines of private clubs. He was not just a player. Above all, he was an energetic organizer and promoter.
In March 1964, Obolensky organized an international tournament on Grand Bahama Island. Historical sources report that 32 players took part in the first edition. Charles Wacker III defeated Porter Ijams in the final. The following year, the field grew larger and several European players also entered the event.
Today, 32 players may not seem like a remarkable number for an international tournament, but the importance of the event was not its size. Obolensky created a model that would be repeated many times later: top players, travel, organized competition, media coverage, and an environment that turned the tournament itself into an event.
In the following years, other tournaments emerged in the United States and Europe. Backgammon once again moved out of private rooms and gradually developed an international scene.
1967 and the Beginning of the Backgammon World Championship
In 1967, the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas hosted an event known as the World Championship of Backgammon. Tim Holland won that edition and retained the title the following year. He won again in 1971.
There is a historical nuance here. Some sources call the Las Vegas tournaments the first World Championship events, while some researchers use the term “unofficial World Championship” for this early period. The structure of the international organizations of that era was different from what we would expect from a modern world federation.
But from the perspective of the game's cultural history, the importance of 1967 is clear. From this point onward, the concept of a “World Backgammon Champion” gained a firm place in the media and among serious players.
International tournaments were no longer simply gatherings of wealthy players. Titles, tournament records, and competition among the best players gradually acquired independent importance.
The 1970s: The Explosion of Modern Backgammon
If we consider the 1920s the period when one of the foundations of modern Backgammon was established, the 1970s were its period of explosive growth. The number of tournaments increased, new players entered the scene, and mainstream publications wrote more about the game.
Figures such as Tim Holland, Oswald Jacoby, John Crawford, Barclay Cooke, Walter Cooke, and Paul Magriel were active in this competitive environment. Some became known primarily for tournament play, while others became known for their books and contributions to game theory.
During this period, backgammon also became more prominent in popular culture in the United States and Europe. But from today's perspective, what matters even more was the development of serious strategic literature. Authors were no longer simply putting rules and scattered tips together. They were trying to build a language and framework for different positions.
This is where the gap between an “experienced player” and “systematic knowledge of the game” began to narrow. Experience still mattered, but it was no longer the only reference.
The Backgammon Book: A Major Step Toward Analysis
Oswald Jacoby and John R. Crawford published The Backgammon Book in 1970. The Viking Press edition was 224 pages, and the book remains an important document from the golden age of backgammon.
The book did more than explain the rules. The authors discussed strategy, Chouette, tournaments, the history of the game, tournament administration, and even behavior at the board. For players of that era, this comprehensive approach was highly valuable.
One point should also be kept in mind: some of the analysis in older books has been revised by computer engines today. The fact that some evaluations were later shown to be incorrect does not diminish the historical value of those works. The authors of that era worked without millions of Rollouts and neural engines.
The importance of such books was that they moved the discussion from “I always play this move” toward “What reasoning is behind this move?” A few years later, Paul Magriel would take this path much further.
Paul Magriel: When Backgammon Acquired a Theoretical Language
In 1976, Paul Magriel published the famous book Backgammon. The original Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company edition had more than 400 pages and became one of the most influential books in the history of the game. Bibliographic records for the first edition list 404 pages of main text.
Magriel's major contribution was not simply the number of diagrams or the size of the book. He tried to categorize board positions and create a logic for decision-making. Readers were not expected merely to memorize the correct answer. They were supposed to understand why a move fit the overall objective of the position.
Concepts such as Running Game, Holding Game, Priming Game, Blitz, and Back Game entered instruction in a more organized framework. Terms such as Safe Play and Bold Play also helped players think more precisely about choosing between safety and risk.
For several generations of players, Magriel's book served as a reference work and earned the famous nickname The Bible of Backgammon. Of course, modern analytical engines have challenged some examples and conclusions from books of that era, but Magriel's language and conceptual framework are still visible in backgammon education.
The Difference Between a “Good Move” and the “Right Decision”
One of the most important intellectual changes in modern backgammon is right here. A beginner often looks for a move that appears strong, bold, or beautiful. A professional player asks a different question: “Which choice has the greatest value in this position?”
To answer that, several factors must be considered together. What is the match situation? Is this a match or a standalone game? What is the structure on both sides of the board? What is the game plan? How high is the gammon risk? Is a Double approaching?
Sometimes a move that looks conservative is mathematically the best choice. At other times, overly safe play is too passive and the player needs to accept more risk.
So professional backgammon is not a competition to find the “prettiest” move. The main issue is decision quality, and that decision always takes place under uncertainty. You do not know the next roll, but you must make the best choice based on the information currently available.
How Monte Carlo Became Connected to the World Championship
The World Championship path in the 1970s was somewhat complicated. Early tournaments were held in Las Vegas, and later part of the competitive scene moved to the Bahamas. At the same time, Monte Carlo was hosting major European events.
From 1976 to 1978, there were effectively two prominent streams: tournaments in the Bahamas that attracted more American players, and the European Open in Monte Carlo, where European participation was stronger. This situation made the World Championship title somewhat confusing.
From 1979, Monte Carlo became the main home of the World Championship. Luigi Villa of Italy was the first champion of the Monte Carlo era that year. Historical tournament lists also record the Monte Carlo champions from 1979 onward.
Over the decades, Monte Carlo became one of the best-known symbols of competitive backgammon. For a large part of the game's modern history, the phrase “World Championship” and the name Monte Carlo were almost inseparable.
1979: When a Computer Defeated the World Champion
Just one day after Luigi Villa won the title in Monte Carlo, another event took place whose significance extended beyond backgammon. On July 15, 1979, Villa played against the computer program BKG 9.8, developed by Hans Berliner at Carnegie Mellon University.
The match was played to 7 points, and BKG 9.8 won 7–1. Berliner later wrote in his paper that the program also received better rolls during the match, so the 7–1 result should not simply be interpreted as a direct measure of the difference between human and machine playing strength.
Nevertheless, the event itself was historic. A computer program had defeated the world champion of a well-known mind game in a head-to-head match, years before the famous chess matches between Deep Blue and Garry Kasparov.
BKG 9.8 was still far behind modern engines, but it showed the direction of the future. Computers were not merely going to move checkers. They were going to evaluate positions.
From BKG to Modern Analytical Engines
After BKG, research into computer backgammon continued. One of the next major milestones was TD-Gammon, developed by Gerald Tesauro in the 1990s, which used neural networks and reinforcement learning. This program changed researchers' understanding of how machine learning could be applied to games.
The arrival of strong engines also had a cultural impact on traditional backgammon. Until then, the opinions of top experts carried enormous weight. If a champion said a certain move was correct, many players accepted it as the standard. Computers disrupted that hierarchy.
Players began using Rollouts to examine thousands or millions of possible continuations from a position. Some moves that had seemed “obvious” for years turned out to be mistakes. Even the analyses of top players were no longer immune to review.
Today, tools such as GNU Backgammon and eXtreme Gammon are an important part of serious players' study. The language of instruction has also changed: instead of saying “I like this move,” players discuss Equity, Error, and the numerical difference between choices.
Error Rate: The Number That Changed Professional Play
One product of the computer era is measuring playing quality using Error Rate. An analytical engine compares each player decision with its own best choice and calculates the value lost.
Suppose two moves appear close. A player chooses one, and the engine shows that the other was 0.030 Equity units better. This small difference in a single decision may not be decisive, but the accumulation of errors across hundreds of decisions creates a more realistic picture of playing quality.
This tool also transformed training. Players no longer use only the match result as their measure. They may lose a match while making very good decisions, or win because of favorable rolls while making several serious errors.
This is where the difference between result and performance becomes clear. The dice affect the short-term result, but decision analysis shows the player how well they performed in the part of the game that was under their control.
Exactly When Did Modern Backgammon Begin?
There is no single year for the birth of modern backgammon. It is better understood as the result of several stages. Around the mid-1920s, doubling entered the game. In 1928, Modern Backgammon was published and explicitly discussed the “modern game,” while in 1931 American clubs developed a new standardized set of rules.
The next stage came in the 1960s. Obolensky organized the international Bahamas tournament in 1964, and the 1967 Las Vegas championship events brought the World Championship into the center of the scene.
The 1970s brought the growth of theoretical literature. Jacoby, Crawford, Magriel, and other authors tried to transfer the knowledge of expert players into books and educational frameworks. During the same decade, the international tournament network also expanded.
From 1979 onward, computers gradually entered the story as well. So, in one concise sentence, modern backgammon built its foundations in the 1920s and early 1930s, developed an international scene in the 1960s, acquired a theoretical language in the 1970s, and entered the data-driven analysis era with the arrival of computers.
A Short Timeline of Modern Backgammon History
To see the big picture, a few dates stand out. Around 1925, sources describe the emergence of doubling in American playing circles, although the exact date and identity of the inventor remain uncertain. In 1928, Modern Backgammon was published, and in 1931, Laws of Backgammon established an important new standard.
In 1964, Obolensky organized the international Bahamas tournament. In 1967, the Las Vegas event was held under the World Championship title and Tim Holland became champion.
In 1970, The Backgammon Book by Jacoby and Crawford appeared in bookstores, and in 1976 Paul Magriel's Backgammon was published. Three years later, the World Championship was held in Monte Carlo and Luigi Villa won the title.
Just one day after Villa's championship, BKG 9.8 defeated him 7–1. This event was not the beginning of the computer era, but it was an excellent symbol of what would happen in the following decades: machine analysis entered a field in which human experts had previously been almost the only authority.
The Most Important Books in the History of Modern Backgammon
The history of backgammon was not recorded only through tournaments. Books also played a major role. Before the modern era, Edmond Hoyle wrote about Backgammon in the eighteenth century. A version of A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon was published in 1743 and is now recorded in digital library collections.
In the twentieth century, Grosvenor Nicholas's Modern Backgammon in 1928 became an important document from the era when doubling emerged. The Backgammon Book by Oswald Jacoby and John Crawford in 1970 also provides a comprehensive picture of competitive backgammon at the time.
The book Backgammon: The Action Game by Alexis Obolensky and Ted James, published in 1969, was also part of the game's revival during the 1960s. WorldCat records the 1969 Collier Books edition of this work.
From the perspective of classical theory, however, Paul Magriel's Backgammon from 1976 holds a special place. Barclay Cooke's Paradoxes and Probabilities, published in 1978, is another important example of the analytical literature of that decade. WorldCat records the 1978 Random House edition of this book.
6 Historical Books That Show the Evolution of Backgammon
A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon — Edmond Hoyle, 1743: One of the important printed sources from before the modern era, showing that discussion of rules and probability in Backgammon has existed for centuries.
Modern Backgammon — Grosvenor Nicholas, 1928: An extremely valuable source for understanding the era in which doubling entered the culture of the game. It also contains a dedicated chapter on Doubling.
Backgammon: The Action Game — Alexis Obolensky & Ted James, 1969: A book by a figure who played a major role in the growth of international tournaments and which represents the Backgammon environment of the 1960s well.
The Backgammon Book — Oswald Jacoby & John R. Crawford, 1970: A 224-page Viking Press work that brings together the history, strategy, tournaments, and culture of the game.
Backgammon — Paul Magriel, 1976: One of the most influential instructional books in the game, serving as a foundational resource for several generations of players.
Paradoxes and Probabilities — Barclay Cooke, 1978: A collection of 168 backgammon problems that provides a good example of the analytical environment of the 1970s.
Important Books for Today's Player
Classic books are still valuable for understanding concepts and the history of theory, but today's player should not treat every old analysis as the final truth. Powerful engines have reexamined many classic positions over the past several decades.
Works such as Modern Backgammon by Bill Robertie, New Ideas in Backgammon by Kit Woolsey and Hal Heinrich, and Backgammon Boot Camp by Walter Trice continue the same analytical tradition. These books belong to a period when authors increasingly incorporated computer results into instruction.
More recent books by Michihito Kageyama and Roland Herrera, including works focused on Opening and Endgame, concentrate on more specific parts of the game. This trend itself is a sign of the maturity of backgammon literature: a single general book can no longer meet every need of a professional player.
The modern study method is also a combination. Books provide a conceptual framework, real games build experience, and analytical engines ruthlessly expose mistakes. None of them can completely replace the other two.
Were Old Players “Playing Wrong” Before Computers Arrived?
The short answer is: in some positions, yes, but that does not tell the whole story. Players in the 1960s and 1970s did not have today's tools. They developed theory through experience, manual calculation, and comparison of thousands of real games.
When a computer engine rejects an old analysis, it does not necessarily mean that the old author was a weak player. The difference in tools is enormous. A human must examine a few important continuations mentally, while a computer can analyze an enormous number of positions without getting tired.
Even today, engines do not eliminate the value of classic books. Concepts such as game plan, position structure, timing, and pattern recognition remain essential for humans. Seeing the number 0.042 by itself does not explain why the first move is better.
The best learning happens when numbers and concepts come together. The engine tells you which decision is better; a coach, book, or careful analysis should explain why.
How Is Modern Backgammon Different From the Game of a Hundred Years Ago?
A serious player in 1928 had books, experience, and perhaps access to one of the famous clubs. But they did not have access to databases of thousands of matches, instructional videos, online tournaments, or an analytical engine on a laptop or phone.
Today, even a non-professional player can import a game file into software after a match and review every Blunder one by one. Something that once required hours of discussion among experts can now receive an initial numerical evaluation within seconds.
The level of competition has also risen as a result of these tools. An idea that took one generation years of playing to discover can be learned by the next generation in the first chapter of a book or the first training session. Knowledge accumulates.
Yet the essence of the game has not changed: the dice are rolled, you do not have complete information about the future, and you have to make decisions. Technology has simply raised the quality of how those decisions can be examined.
Final Thoughts: The Board Did Not Change, the Way We Think About the Game Did
Over the past century, the physical appearance of the backgammon board has not changed dramatically. We still have the same 15 checkers, 24 points, and two dice. The major transformation happened elsewhere: the way players think about decisions changed.
Doubling introduced a new layer of risk into the game, standardized rules organized competition, tournaments created professional players, books developed a theoretical language for the game, and computers put many old beliefs under a new microscope.
Backgammon is a very old game, but modern backgammon is still a living story. Perhaps that is its greatest appeal: every time we think we understand everything about the board, a new position appears whose answer is not nearly as obvious as it first seems.