June 20th, 2008
From the start of our trip in Thailand through Turkey and now in Bulgaria we have been witnessing backpackers and locals alike enjoying the game of Backgammon. Finally in Veliko Tarnovo we asked the owners of Nomads Hostel to teach us the infamous game. Fedio and Jon paired up for lessons (above) while Maria and I paired up for my lesson. They were both extremely patient with us while we struggled with the very simple rules yet fast play action of backgammon. I think we are officially hooked! I see now why it is so popular...it is quite addictive really and one game can go by fairly fast so it is never boring. Now we are on the hunt for a backgammon set...
A bit of history on backgammon according to Wikipedia (look it up if interested in more info on the ancient table game):
The ancient Romans played a number of games remarkably similar to backgammon. Ludus duodecim scriptorum ("Game of twelve lines") used a board with three rows of 12 points each, and the checkers were moved across all three rows according to the roll of dice. Little specific text about the gameplay has survived. Tabula, meaning "table" or "board", was a game mentioned in an epigram of Byzantine Emperor Zeno (AD 476–481). It was similar to modern backgammon in that the object of the game was to be the first to bear off all of one's checkers. Players threw three dice and moved their checkers in opposing directions on a board of 24 points.
Herr Goeli, 14th c. Codex Manesse & Modern Day
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