If you open a backgammon board today, you will see a familiar setup: 24 points, 15 checkers for each player, two dice, and a competition that brings chance and decision-making together. The game looks simple, but the history behind this wooden board is anything but simple.
The history of this game begins in the Near East and continues in important ways in Iran. During the Sasanian period, it entered Persian literature under the name Nard, and over the centuries it took different forms until it eventually became what we know today around the world as Backgammon. But was modern backgammon really played in Iran 5,000 years ago? No, at least the available evidence does not support such a definitive claim. The story is more complicated, and that complexity is precisely what makes the history of backgammon fascinating.
What Is Backgammon?
Backgammon, or Nard in its modern form, is a two-player game from the family of race games. Each player has 15 checkers and moves them across 24 triangular points according to the results of two dice. The winner is the player who gets all of their checkers into their home board first and then bears them all off the board.
The dice determine an important part of the game, but the outcome does not depend only on the numbers rolled. A player must decide where to build a point, when to hit an opponent's checker, when to move a checker out of danger, and how much risk to take. Sometimes an excellent roll is wasted by a poor decision, while an unimpressive roll can change the position through precise play.
This combination is what separates backgammon from a purely random game. Probability, tactics, checker positioning, and risk management all come together. In a short game, luck plays a significant role; but as the number of games increases, the quality of decisions becomes more important.
The interesting point is that the history of this game does not begin with the same 24-point board we know today. To find its roots, we have to go back several thousand years, to a time when people moved pieces across boards long before the word Backgammon existed and used randomizing devices to determine the outcome of moves.
Before Backgammon; Board Games and Dice in the Ancient World
Board games have a very long history, and the civilizations of the Near East left behind notable examples. One of the most famous is the Royal Game of Ur, whose fine examples were discovered in the Royal Cemetery of Ur, in present-day Iraq.
The British Museum dates one of the famous Ur boards to around 2600–2400 BCE. The board has 20 spaces, and playing pieces and dice were also found with the set. So at least more than 4,500 years ago, people in this region were seriously playing a race game involving pieces and randomizing devices.
The story of Ur has another fascinating element. A Babylonian cuneiform tablet from 177 BCE contains instructions for a 20-space game. The British Museum describes this text as the oldest known written rules for a board game. In other words, archaeologists do not have only the board itself; part of the way the game was played has also survived on an ancient tablet.
However, one distinction should not be erased: the Royal Game of Ur is not the same as backgammon. The board structure, number of spaces, and game path are different. It is better to consider Ur an important member of the long tradition of race games, a tradition from which or alongside which other games later emerged. Smithsonian also emphasizes the uncertainty surrounding the origins of Backgammon and considers the Game of Ur a possible distant ancestor, not an "ancient backgammon" in the precise sense of the term.
Shahr-e Sukhteh; One of Iran's Oldest Game Boards
When Iran enters the story, Shahr-e Sukhteh in Sistan is one of the first places we should look at. Archaeologists discovered a wooden board for a 20-space game at this site, structurally resembling older examples from Ur.
On this board, the spaces are arranged along the body of a snake. Games of this kind were also accompanied by tools used to determine the movement of pieces. Encyclopaedia Iranica reports that the Shahr-e Sukhteh example belongs to the family of 20-space games and follows the general structure of the Ur examples.
This is where a common mistake arises. In media or on social networks, the Shahr-e Sukhteh find is sometimes described as the "oldest backgammon board in the world." Historically, this wording is too definitive. The Shahr-e Sukhteh board is a very important game, but it should be placed within the family of 20-space games rather than directly equated with modern Backgammon.
The importance of Shahr-e Sukhteh lies elsewhere: the discovery shows that the tradition of board and race games has a very long history on the Iranian Plateau. This clue becomes even more interesting when it is considered alongside the finds from Jiroft.
Jiroft; Where the Resemblance to Backgammon Becomes More Significant
Jiroft is particularly important to the history of backgammon. Among the game boards attributed to this region is an example with three rows of 12 spaces, with each row divided in the middle into two groups of six. This is where the structural resemblance to the backgammon family becomes more significant.
Modern backgammon also has 24 points arranged in four groups of six. The Jiroft board does not have exactly the same arrangement as a modern board; it has three rows of 12 spaces, whereas a modern backgammon board has two rows of 12 points. Nevertheless, dividing each row into two groups of six is not a minor feature. Encyclopaedia Iranica considers it one of the important characteristics of boards in the Backgammon family.
The Metropolitan Museum also points to this feature, noting that the Jiroft finds show important characteristics of the backgammon board: rows of 12 spaces divided into groups of six, present in Iran around 2000 BCE. This date takes us back roughly four thousand years.
But this is where we need to put the brakes on exciting claims. We cannot reconstruct the exact rules of the game from the similarity of the board. We do not know how many pieces there were, exactly how the moves worked, or whether the ultimate objective was the same as bearing off pieces. Therefore, saying that "modern backgammon was played in Jiroft 4,000 years ago" goes beyond the evidence. A more accurate statement is: Around 2000 BCE, boards existed in Iran that had several important structural features of the backgammon family.
Nard; When the Name of the Game Enters Iranian History
To get closer to backgammon in its historical sense, we need to move away from archaeological finds and turn to Iranian texts. This is where we encounter the name "Nard" and its Middle Persian form.
In Middle Persian sources, the name nēw-ardašīr appears for the game. Encyclopaedia Iranica considers Persian and Arabic "Nard" to be a shortened form of this name. In Pahlavi texts, the game also appears alongside chess.
One of these sources is the Kār-Nāmag ī Ardašīr ī Pābagān. In this text, games such as chess, polo, and Nard are placed among the skills and arts of royalty. Another source, titled Husrō ud Rēdag, also speaks of the protagonist's superiority in chess, Nard, and another game. Encyclopaedia Iranica considers these references evidence of the game's place in the educational and courtly culture of Iran.
Here, we are no longer dealing merely with a visual similarity on an ancient board. The name of the game enters the Iranian language and literature. Of course, the dating of surviving manuscripts and the different layers of these texts are subjects of specialized debate; therefore, it is better not to treat every literary reference as direct evidence from the third or sixth century CE.
Bozorgmehr and Nard; History or Legend?
One of the most famous stories associated with Nard is the tale of Bozorgmehr and chess. According to the Middle Persian text Explanation of Chess and the Origin of Nard, the king of India sends chess to the court of Khosrow Anushirvan and asks the Iranians to discover its secrets and rules.
In the story, Bozorgmehr figures out the rules of chess. But the story does not end there. In response, he designs the game of Nard and sends it to the Indians, challenging them to discover the secrets of the Iranian game. The narrative creates an intellectual contest between two courts, something like a diplomatic battle of wits played out through a game.
The story is fascinating, but it should not replace historical evidence. Encyclopaedia Iranica explicitly describes this account as legendary and emphasizes that it cannot be considered an accurate historical report of the invention of Nard. Research on pre-Islamic Iranian games also treats the various traditions attributing Nard to Ardashir or Bozorgmehr as part of the historical and literary tradition.
So we do not remove Bozorgmehr from the history of Nard; we define his place correctly. Bozorgmehr is the central figure in one of the most important cultural narratives about Nard, not an inventor whose date of invention can be established through archaeological evidence. This small distinction clarifies the boundary between precise historical reporting and the retelling of a popular legend.
Why Is the Name "Nard" Important?
Names sometimes survive longer than ancient objects. "Nard" is a good example. Different forms of the name appear in Middle Persian sources, and the word is still alive in Persian today, both as "Nard" and in the more common combination "Takht-e Nard".
Encyclopaedia Iranica records the name nēw-ardašīr in Pahlavi texts and considers "Nard" a shortened form of it. This linguistic connection is important because it shows that we are not dealing with a new or modern name. The word itself carries part of the game's history.
On the other hand, we should not conclude from the survival of the name that the rules of the game remained unchanged throughout all these centuries. The name of a game can survive for centuries while its method of play, number of pieces, or rules change. The history of games is full of these gradual transformations.
Perhaps the most fascinating part of the story is precisely this: we know many ancient games today only by conventional names such as "20-square game" because their original names have disappeared. But "Nard" is still on our tongues. Several centuries of history are contained in a short word!
What Was the Place of Backgammon in Sasanian Culture?
In texts associated with Sasanian Iranian culture, games were not merely a way to pass the time. Skill in certain games was placed alongside other abilities that were valued in a courtier or prince. In the Kār-Nāmag ī Ardašīr ī Pābagān, skill in games such as chess and Nard appears within this same cultural context.
The text Husrō ud Rēdag also portrays a character who speaks of his superiority in several games. At the very least, these sources show that writers of late antiquity and the early Islamic period associated games such as Nard with elite culture and courtly education.
In the Middle Persian account associated with Nard, the elements of the game even acquire cosmic meanings. The game board is linked with the earth, black and white pieces with night and day, and the dice with the movement of celestial bodies. The numbers are also interpreted as references to planets and celestial regions. Encyclopaedia Iranica reports this symbolic worldview in the text concerning Nard.
These symbols should not be presented as the "reason Nard was created." The text gives the game a philosophical and cosmic meaning; it does not necessarily say that the game's original designer had this symbolic system in mind from the beginning. The distinction matters. Sometimes a culture adds new layers of meaning to a game long after its birth.
From Iranian Nard to Backgammon
The history of backgammon is not a straight line that starts at point A in Iran and moves continuously to modern Backgammon. In ancient Rome, there were also related games with similar structures. Duodecim Scripta and its later forms are among the important examples of this family.
Encyclopaedia Iranica examines the striking structural similarity between some Jiroft boards and Roman boards, with the important difference that the Jiroft examples are much older. The authors of the article even conclude that the family of Backgammon boards followed its own historical path and that early signs of it can be seen in Iran around 2000 BCE.
Over the centuries, various rules and names emerged in different parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Smithsonian points to examples such as Tabula, Nard, and several European variants, and reports that different forms of this family of games became widespread in Europe during the Middle Ages. The English word backgammon also appeared in English sources in the early modern period.
So the more accurate picture resembles a river with several branches rather than the story of an object invented on a particular day. Cultures influenced these games, rules changed, and different branches moved closer to one another again. The history of Nard emerged from these movements.
Was the Royal Game of Ur a Direct Ancestor of Backgammon?
The similarity between Ur and backgammon is tempting. Both are race games, both involve pieces, and movement in both depends on the result of a type of die. These features led some popular accounts to describe Ur as the "ancestor of backgammon."
Historically, however, the word "ancestor" is somewhat too definitive. There is a large chronological gap between the various examples, and we do not have a complete chain of changes in the rules that connects Ur to Backgammon step by step. Its board also differs fundamentally from the modern 24-point board.
Smithsonian describes the Royal Game of Ur as one of the oldest conceivable ancestors of Backgammon, rather than a proven link in a direct chain. This cautious wording provides a more accurate picture.
Simply put, Ur shows that the idea of "racing pieces with the help of dice" was attractive at least 4,500 years ago. But we should not bridge the gap between that idea and modern backgammon with a simple arrow. Archaeology does not allow us to do so.
How Old Is Backgammon?
This question does not have a single answer; it depends on exactly which part of the game's history we are talking about. If we mean ancient race games, the Ur examples take us back to the middle of the third millennium BCE. The British Museum dates the famous Ur board to 2600–2400 BCE.
If the question concerns structures resembling a backgammon board, the Jiroft finds become more significant. Encyclopaedia Iranica and the Metropolitan Museum report the presence in Iran around 2000 BCE of rows of 12 spaces divided into groups of six. This means that part of the familiar architecture of a Nard board is about four thousand years old.
If we mean "Nard" under its historical name, we turn to Middle Persian sources and the Sasanian tradition. There, Nard appears alongside other games and skills, and the famous story of Bozorgmehr also takes shape; although the exact dating of the composition and rewriting of some of these texts does not allow us to attribute all their details unquestioningly to the time of the Sasanian kings.
So the statement "backgammon was invented in Iran 5,000 years ago" is appealing, but it is too neat and definitive. A more accurate formulation is: The family of Near Eastern race games has a history of more than four thousand years, and around 2000 BCE, boards with important features of the backgammon family appear in Iran; Nard later acquired a distinct place in the cultural and literary tradition of Iran.
Why Don't We Know Who Invented Backgammon?
For many modern inventions, we know the inventor's name, the date of registration, and even the original prototype. Ancient games are a completely different story. Games usually changed gradually, traveled from city to city, and had their rules modified by people according to their preferences.
The materials used create another problem. Many boards were made from wood, fabric, leather, or perishable materials, and after several thousand years nothing remains of them. Encyclopaedia Iranica identifies this lack of direct evidence as one of the main challenges in studying ancient games.
On the other hand, finding a board does not necessarily mean understanding its rules. An archaeologist may find the board, pieces, and dice, but the instruction manual is usually not lying next to them! The tablet from 177 BCE concerning a 20-space game is an important exception because it gives researchers part of the rules.
These limitations explain why serious researchers do not talk about the "day backgammon was invented." The evidence points instead to the evolution of a large family of games, with Iran being one of the most important stages in its history.
What Makes the History of Backgammon Special?
Perhaps the more interesting question is not "Who invented backgammon?" A better question is: How did a game idea survive for thousands of years?
In Mesopotamia, players moved pieces across 20-space boards. A version of the same tradition appears at Shahr-e Sukhteh. At Jiroft, boards emerge with divisions that bring them closer to the Nard family. Later, "Nard" enters Iranian texts and finds its place in literary and cultural narratives.
This path is not direct or uninterrupted. Some branches disappeared, some changed, and some created new forms. But the central idea—moving pieces, competing over a route, and bringing skill face to face with uncertainty—survived repeatedly across different cultures.
This is where the story becomes serious: backgammon is not merely an old object left in a museum. Its modern version is still played. The gap of several thousand years between ancient boards and a modern board brings the history of the game out from behind the museum display and puts it back on the table.
Is Backgammon an Iranian Game?
To answer accurately, we need to distinguish between a "complete and certain origin" and an "important historical role." Current evidence does not allow us to say that an Iranian individual invented modern backgammon from scratch at a specific point in history. The history of the game is more complicated than that.
At the same time, Iran's contribution cannot be underestimated. The Jiroft boards show important structural features of the Backgammon family around 2000 BCE. Later, the name Nard appears in the Middle Persian tradition, and the game gains a clear place in Iranian culture. Encyclopaedia Iranica also explicitly discusses Iran's important role in the early development of this family of games.
Culturally, the connection between Nard and Iran is also deep. The name of the game, the story of Bozorgmehr, Pahlavi texts, and the presence of Nard in Persian literature are all part of this relationship. They do not prove a claim of "definite invention," but they clearly demonstrate Iran's significant place in the history of Nard.
So if someone asks, "Is backgammon Iranian?" the historically accurate answer is: Iran is one of the most important centers in the history and development of Nard, and very ancient evidence of boards related to the backgammon family has been found there; however, the history of Backgammon is the result of a multicultural, multi-millennial process and should not be reduced to a single inventor or a specific moment.
Final Thoughts
The history of backgammon is far more fascinating than a promotional statement such as "the world's oldest game, invented in Iran 5,000 years ago." The boards of Ur, Shahr-e Sukhteh, and Jiroft, Middle Persian texts, the story of Bozorgmehr, and the different forms of the game across the ancient world and later centuries each form a piece of this puzzle.
The next time you roll two dice on a backgammon board, you are probably doing more than simply starting a game of Nard. You are continuing a modern version of a tradition that humans have enjoyed in different forms for thousands of years; and Iran, without a doubt, holds one of the most important chapters in that story.