| Backgammon is one of the all time favorite | | | | might be made out of a piece of bone. As the |
| board games and its five thousand years of | | | | range of materials in regular use expanded, |
| history is something that few other games can | | | | pottery checkers and dice replaced their |
| complete with. From its development in the | | | | humble predecessors. With the increasing |
| lands of the Near East, the Iran and Iraq of | | | | commercialism in the 1800's backgammon sets |
| our own times, the backgammon game made its | | | | produced for retailers began to replace the |
| way across the Roman Empire. In the course of | | | | home-produced sets previously in use. In the |
| time it has reached every corner of the | | | | twentieth century the introduction of |
| world. The backgammon board with its twenty | | | | plastics came as a great boon for the |
| four triangular-shaped, alternately colored | | | | producers of backgammon sets and helped |
| divisions, and the backgammon set of fifteen | | | | insure that cheap sets have become available |
| checkers for each player, dice, and a dice | | | | to all who want to play backgammon. |
| shaker are instantly recognizable to a great | | | | |
| proportion of the world's inhabitants. It | | | | In many respects the greatest development in |
| might be thought that with the passage of all | | | | the technology of the backgammon set has |
| these years and the appearance of so many | | | | occurred only in the last fifteen years with |
| different times of board and other games, | | | | the introduction of Internet backgammon. |
| backgammon would go out of fashion, but that | | | | Spurred on by the success of backgammon |
| has not been the case. The game has managed | | | | gambling, Internet backgammon has introduced |
| to continue to increase its following and is | | | | the game to a much wider audience by |
| probably more popular today than at any time | | | | transferring it to a media that has turned |
| in its long history. | | | | out to be particularly suited for hosting the |
| | | | game. The developers of the backgammon online |
| Without doubt backgammon's unique combination | | | | sites have succeed in creating attractive 3-D |
| of a game of skill and strategy with a game | | | | virtual versions of backgammon sets that |
| whose movement's are controlled by the | | | | behave exactly like their traditional wooden |
| outcomes of the dice throw, has been a key | | | | counterparts. The backgammon sites also boast |
| factor in accounting for its enduring | | | | sophisticated computers that allow players to |
| popularity. Yet, another contributing factor | | | | test their skills at a level to suit their |
| has been the way the backgammon set adapts to | | | | proficiency at the game, and they provide a |
| changing technologies. | | | | clear explanation of backgammon rules for |
| | | | those who lack this information or merely |
| In the early years of the game, backgammon | | | | require a reminder. Online backgammon has |
| sets were made from whatever materials were | | | | clearly proven the endurance of the |
| available locally. For example, a flat piece | | | | backgammon set as an ancient leisure artifact |
| of wood could have the divisions of the board | | | | capable of successfully adapting to the |
| carved into it, and a set of smooth stones | | | | twenty-first century leisure market. |
| could serve as the checkers, while the dice | | | | |