Backgammon does not have a single known inventor ; it evolved over thousands of years from ancient Near Eastern board games.

Quick answer

  • The game’s roots go back about 5,000 years to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and surrounding regions), where very similar race-and-dice boards have been found by archaeologists.
  • A closely related game called nard (or nardshir) is described in early Persian sources and is sometimes attributed in legend to the Sasanian-era court scholar Bozorgmehr in the 6th century CE, but this is viewed as a literary tradition, not a documented “invention.”
  • The word “backgammon” and the first written rules for the modern English-style game only appear in the 1600s in England, in works by Francis Willughby and Charles Cotton.

Mini history snapshot

  • Ancient origins (c. 3000 BCE): Excavations in Mesopotamia and surrounding regions reveal boards and dice for race games that are considered direct ancestors of backgammon, making it one of the oldest known board-game families.
  • Persian & Indian traditions: Early texts from India and Persia mention similar dice-board games; Persian epic literature (like later tellings connected with the Shahnameh) credits the court of King Khosrow I and the figure of Bozorgmehr with creating nard , a game effectively in the same family as backgammon.
  • European “tables” → backgammon: Medieval Europeans played a family of games called “tables,” which used a board and movement pattern very similar to modern backgammon, and by the 17th century the English name “Back Gammon” and codified rules appear in gaming manuals.

So, who “invented” it?

If the question is “who invented backgammon” in the sense of one person and one date, historians generally say this cannot be answered.

  • As a family of race-and-dice games , its origin lies in ancient Mesopotamia and the broader Near East, long before recorded individual inventors.
  • As a Persian court game , legends credit Bozorgmehr with codifying a form called nard in the 6th century.
  • As modern “backgammon” in English , the game shape emerges from European “tables” play, with 17th‑century English writers giving the name and first detailed rules.

In short, backgammon is the product of a very long evolution, not a single inventor. Meta description (SEO):
Who invented backgammon? Explore the ancient Mesopotamian roots, Persian legends about nard , and the 17th‑century English codification that shaped the modern game.

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