Backgammon to bear off all of one's checkers, was also the same. Hitting a blot, reentering a piece from the bar, and bearing off, all followed the modern rules. The only differences with modern backgammon were the use of an extra die (three rather than two) and the starting of all pieces off the board (with them entering in the same way that pieces on the bar enter in modern backgammon). The name τάβλη is still used for backgammon in Greece, where it is frequently played in town plateias and cafes. The epigram of Zeno describes a particularly bad dice roll
Backgammon of Bosch and interior of an Inn by Jan Steen. In the 16th century, Elizabethan laws and church regulations prohibited playing tables, but by the 18th century, backgammon was popular among the English clergy. Edmund Hoyle published "A Short Treatise on the Game of Back-Gammon" in 1753; this described rules and strategy for the game and was bound together with a similar text on whist. In English, the word "backgammon" is most likely derived from "back" and Middle English ""gamen"", meaning "game" or "play". The earliest use documented by the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1650. The most recent major