If we were to draw up a league table of the most successful board games, backgammon has an excellent claim to a place at the top of the list. First of all, it would be hard to find a game that has been played since the very beginnings of recorded human history. Historians have discovered that the backgammon set and the backgammon game we are familiar with today have their origins in the Fertile Crescent ? the area in the Near East that is now divided between Iraq and Iran. Although these backgammon sets used stones for counters, and bone for dice, they would be recognizable to contemporary players. In a similar vein, our ancestors knew how to play backgammon in a way that was not so radically different from how we play it today.

From the Near East, the game spread through the Roman Empire and up into Northern Europe. Although the Roman game of backgammon, or tabula as it was known, has some differences from the game we are familiar with today, it had many common features. To play backgammon became a favorite pastime of the Roman aristocracy. The Emperor Claudius became the most famous player in the ancient world and certainly helped raise the profile of the game. However, it seems the main reason for the game's popularity in the Roman world was backgammon gambling. Historical evidence indicates that tabula was only played for stakes, unlike today's backgammon that many people play for the enjoyment value alone.

Certainly many of the games known in ancient times have not survived the test of time. If we try to understand why backgammon has not shared their fate, the simplicity of the backgammon rules and its adaptability to changing times stands out as key reasons for its survival. Backgammon has shown itself adaptable to a wide range of different cultures and nations. Over the past fifteen years, its transformation into one of the most successful Internet games has come to provide further proof of how a five thousand year old game is able to continue to maintain its popularity.

The developers of online backgammon have managed to create backgammon software that offers an exciting 3-D virtual replication of the much-beloved backgammon board game. Backgammon online comes to meet the demands of the twenty first century for instant entertainment with a high quality visual representation. It also satisfies popular demands for access to leisure activities at times that suit the playing public. By bringing together backgammon enthusiasts from around the world, Internet backgammon takes the game into new dimensions. The range of game levels and the variety of opponents available, combined with the opportunities to perfect playing skills against a sophisticated gaming computer, add a great deal to backgammon's contemporary attractiveness. The generous sums of prize money offered to winning players, also serves to draw in many new patrons to the online backgammon sites. In addition, through publicizing the rules of the game and giving clear explanations of how to play online, these sites have done a great deal to increase interest in the game, and so help ensure its continued popularity for years to come.