Number of players: 2
Type of game: Dice / Race
Period: Roman to 17th Century

Tables is not one game but a whole family of games, played on the same board with the same pieces and dice. Backgammon is the best known survivor, but for well over a thousand years people across Europe and the Middle East played dozens of different tables games, each with its own starting position and rules. Medieval players would simply say they were “playing at tables”, and then agree which game they meant.