backgammon, game of chance and skill played by two persons upon a specially marked board divided by a space, called the bar, into two tables (inner table and outer table), each of which has 12 alternately colored points, or triangular spaces. Players move along the board according to the rolls of two dice, and the object is to remove one's 15 pieces, or disks, from the board first. The Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans played a form of backgammon probably derived from the earlier Indian game of Parcheesi. After the 10th cent. A.D. it became popular in Europe.

Two-person game played by moving counters (called stones) on a board or table, the movement of the counters being controlled by the throw of two dice. The board has four sections (called tables), each marked with six narrow wedges (points) in two alternating colors. Representing the two opposing sides are 15 white and 15 black stones. Stones are moved from point to point in opposite directions according to the number of points shown on the dice. On getting all 15 of his stones into his own home (inner) table, a player may begin “bearing off”—moving his stones to an imaginary point beyond the edge of the board. The player who first bears off all 15 stones wins the game. Backgammon is one of the most ancient board games, dating from 3000 BC.

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