The history of nard: from Shahr-e Sukhteh to a Baku teahouse

Updated: October 16, 2026

Nard is one of the oldest board games in the world. It is about five thousand years old, and for most of that time it lived in Iran, the Caucasus and the Middle East. Today long backgammon is played from Baku to Moscow and Almaty — in courtyards, teahouses and online.

The oldest board

Excavations at Shahr-e Sukhteh, the "Burnt City" in south-eastern Iran, uncovered a game board, pieces and dice about five thousand years old. The find is often called the oldest ancestor of nard. Similar games were known in Mesopotamia and Egypt, but it was the Persian tradition that led to nard as we know it.

The legend of Bozorgmehr

Ferdowsi's Shahnameh tells how an Indian king sent chess to Shah Khosrow I Anushirvan and challenged him to work out the game. The wise vizier Bozorgmehr solved chess and in reply invented a new game — nard. According to the legend, everything in it has a meaning:

the 24 points are the hours of the day;
the 30 checkers are the days of the month;
the 12 points on each side are the months of the year;
the two dice are day and night, and the throw is fate — you don't choose it, but you can play it wisely.

Where the name comes from

"Nard" is a Persian word. The old full name is "nardshir", often linked to Ardashir, founder of the Sasanian dynasty. From Persian the word passed into the languages of the Caucasus and Central Asia, and from there into Russian.

Calling the dice in Persian

In Azerbaijan and across the Caucasus, players traditionally call the numbers in Persian: "yek" — 1, "du" — 2, "se" — 3, "jahar" — 4, "panj" — 5, "shesh" — 6. That is where the famous "shesh-besh" comes from — a 6 and a 5 — while double sixes are called "du-shesh". Many players still announce their roll out loud; it is part of the fun.

Long and short backgammon

The same board hosts two different games. In short backgammon (backgammon in the West) checkers are hit and sent back. Long backgammon is calmer and deeper: there is no hitting, you may not land on an opponent's point, and the winner is the one who builds a better position and counts the race well. Long backgammon became the main version of the game in Azerbaijan and across the former USSR.

Nard today

The game has outlived empires without changing: the same board, the same 15 checkers and the same two dice. Only the place has changed — now you can play any time against someone from another city. On NardPlay it is free and needs no download: enter a name, choose a PIN and press "Find opponent".

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