The History Of Backgammon Sets

The earliest backgammon sets known to exist were found in archaeological digs in the Middle East. The oldest was discovered in an ancient city located in modern day Iran. Researchers believe the game board to date to around 3000 BC. This makes it one of the oldest board games known to exist.

This specific board was similar in many respects to a contemporary backgammon game. Two dice and approximately 60 checkers were included. However, the exact rules used by the ancient players are not known. The degree of similarity with the modern game is uncertain.

Other artifacts and documents reveal that the game was played throughout the region. Most notably, several boards discovered in the city of Ur also date to the same era. There is also evidence to suggest the game was known in ancient India and Egypt as well.

During the time of the Roman Empire, games similar to backgammon were played in Rome. The exact rules have been lost to history. Numerous boards exist. These also were accompanied with counters and dice. The Roman variant appears to have used three dice rather than two. Most of the surviving boards include 24 points.

The closest ancestors to the modern game can be found in medieval Europe. In France, the "Games of Tables" began in the 11th Century. It quickly became popular with gamblers and travelers.

While today board games are uncontroversial, there was some intense opposition to them during certain historical periods. Within 250 years of their origin in France, the Games of Tables were banned by the King, Louis IX. Similarly, the Church of England outlawed all boards games during the rule of Queen Elizabeth. In those times and places, backgammon sets would have been illegal contraband.

Today, most backgammon boards are two-sided. Many are designed the two halves of a box. This allows for the easy storage of the dice and the checkers while the game is not being played.

Both sides of the board contain 12 points. Each point is a long triangle of one of two colors. The colors correspond to the checkers. Each player selects a different color at the start of the game.

Throughout history, backgammon has been played in many periods, nations and settings. People of all classes, from kings to wandering gamblers, have participated in the game or its ancestors. The games has even been played on the ocean; a board, along with counters and dice, was discovered in sunken hull of a Dutch ship from the 1600s.

Many variants and offshoots of the game have developed over the course of its long history. These include both primarily geographical versions and more strategic differences. One of the more modern innovations to the gameplay was the addition of the doubling cube.

While a doubling cube superficially resembles a die, it is in fact a marker to be placed on the board. The addition of this piece changes the game significantly. Most modern players prefer to play with one, as it makes the game move more quickly and deepens the available tactics.

The doubling cube originated in New York City in the 1920s. While the exact story of its invention remains unknown, the cube first appeared in gaming clubs. Its addition brought an ancient game more in line with modern expectations.

The Unofficial History of Cribbage and Sir John Suckling

One of England's greatest contributions to Western Civilization is the card game Cribbage, at least in the opinion of avid Cribbage players. Sir John Suckling is the one responsible for bringing us the game that we love today. Although there is no evidence to truly prove that Sir John Suckling was the creator of Cribbage, he is, at the very least, the one responsible for publishing and spreading the game all through the land.

Sir John Suckling, poet, playwright, master bowler/gambler and notorious womanizer, was born at Whitton, between Twickenham and Hounslow, Middlesex, on February 10, 1609. He was born into a very prominent family in England, although after his mother died when he was four years of age, his father was in charge of rearing the young child. His father was a member of the English Parliament and was the "controller" of the King's household until his untimely death in 1627. Sir John was at the age of 18 when his father passed and was old enough to inherit his father's considerably large estate. After receiving the inheritance he spent countless amount of money traveling, womanizing and of course gambling.

In 1623 he enrolled in Trinity College, Cambridge and then to Gray's Inn in 1627. At the young age of 18, he pursued a military career and joined the army of Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War. At the age of 21, King Charles I knighted Suckling. The king quickly regretted the decision, so Suckling left the court and became involved in several different military adventures. He was said to have served in an expedition against France and it has been said that he fought in Lord Wimbledon's regiments in the Dutch service. In October 1631, Sir John joined Sir Henry Vane who was serving under Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden. In 1632, Suckling quickly came back into King Charles's good graces after delivering the dispatches, by orders of Vane, and after completing his mission he returned and remained in England.

After that he pretty much filled his time gambling, womanizing, and serving in the military for the rest of the decade. This is where he was said to have invented the beloved game of cribbage, which had some similar features to the games, Noddy and One-and-Thirty. Although when the Scottish war of 1639 began, he left his beloved cards and women to raise a troop of 100 horsemen and his army joined King Charles in the north. When the war ended, peacefully, in 1639, Sir John returned to London. He was elected to Parliament in 1640, but in May 1641 he was involved in a vain attempt to free a political prisoner, Thomas Wentworth, the earl of Stratford and held in the Tower of London. Sir John Suckling was then charged with treason and had to flee to France with very few belongings and almost no financial assistance, to avoid arrest.

In order to establish some kind of financial security in one of his darkest hours, Suckling started selling a large number of marked packs of cards and distributed them amongst the richest population in the region. He then started playing cards where the marked cards were distributed. In 1642, it was believed that Sir John Suckling committed suicide by taking poison. It has been said that his greatest accomplishments were the lyrics to "why so pale" and "wan fond lover?" and for Cribbage, which has changed very little since Suckling's day and is one of the most popular card games in the English speaking world.

The Little Mexican Girl

I'm a Little Mexican Girl

I'm a little Mexican girl
Crawling through the scrub in the desert
Escaping from government agency injustice
The very injustice she looks for every day
When she opens her door as a Mexican child
she saw it coming that bad day, una dia mal!
each day can be a bad day in Texas
con los gringos con corazones frios
with the white men with frigid hearts
for little girls who have no money, no pretty dresses,
no shoes at all, no milk no breakfast
it leaves a hole
in the heart in the morning

in front of her Texas house the sun doesn't shine
and her father has no hope
he doesn't have a newspaper every day like the white man
he cannot read it anyway as he doesn't speak English
how can he find a job?
His smart little girl cannot read for him
in English and Spanish en ingles y espanol
as she hasn't started school yet

en in el the morning manana en frente de su casa house
en Texas en Tejas
la sol no brilla
the sun doesn't shine
y su padre no tiene esperanza
her father doesn't have hope
no tienen el periodico cada dia como los blancos
he doesn't have a newspaper each day like the white man
no puede leer en ingles tambien como los otros hombres
he can't read in English either like the other men
?como trabajo el?
How can he go to work?
la nina no puede leerlo por el, porque
his daughter can't read it for him because
no esta en la escuela por/para las lecciones
en la lengua de los estados de America

A screaming male voice emerges
from an Army helicopter over my head
it is a father yelling "I AM YOUR FATHER!!"
she recognizes the voice but does not
know the man screaming at her
and hides further behind a dry Texas
tumbleweed with sharp stickers
Pulling her too-small dress down to cover up
her own privacy privacia
she knows her privacy is her own
she thinks what she is too terrified to say--

LA TENGO!! Quiero mi cuerpo que es celeste. Yo soy confidente que TENGO mas que el gringo hombre, porque mi cuerpo y alma es mia el todo es mio!) LA TENGO!!
Es Mia mio
it's mine, estupido stupid!!

As she crawls through the dirt she looks in terror
through the infrared search light pulsing
and spreading around her child's body
like red liquid liquida
like a wide mantle of fuschia fear
in the dark desert night
overtaking the small girl in the fast redness
encompassing her visual reality overtaking her
she lifts up her hands in a fervent child's prayer
to the Virgin Mother Mary Guadalupe
her patron saint and friend
on many desert dog day nights
in past sufferings suferados suferidos sufridos
sufridandosos como el pasado
pasados posasa posadas

The powerful man in the sky continues
To search the desert floor once her womb
exposing the small shivering child
now a small reptile a spotted lizard blending in
and crawling away
to destiny she worries this must be destiny
but it wasn't destiny it was just solamente the confrontation
the terrible argument with the white man el confrontacion con el gringo
with the white man
in the helicopter
that's all it was
era todo fue todo

el gringo menaced
amenazio fue amenazando era amenazando
the gringo menaced
in the dark satanic night
It was a groping ignorance a widespread perception
that forced her
to be a maid in her worst memories
of tortilla degradation as a young (un joven una jovena)
American girl with no stereotypes allowed
because it's against the law she knows it was
against the law to call her a maid
due to her race and reason not a brown raisin
she is never NUNCA a raisin at all
THE MAN EL HOMBRE continues torturing
CONTINUA TORTURANDO A ELLA her with his authority....

He ruins her life from the sky
and she knows it on the dirt

SU AUTORIDAD no es bueno isn't good
even though it is es verdad ahora es
que ella no es solamente una domestica SOLAMENTE!

no es SOLAMENTE!
Solamente!!! una domestica
no es una domestica todo.

Running every day to Juarez Mexico
to get away from that big lie that cold fear that big lie
la mentira no es la razon no es la verdadero!!no es verdad!!
es un mentira it's a lie
about her the little Mexican girl
la nina la estrellita bonita
succumbs, fainting, but people pick her up
Many hands lift her up from the ground where she had fainted in a quaking terror causing her young heart
to stop with a loss of blood sugar from fear
depleting the little girl
spiked it spike spike spiked

her heart siezes from terror
feeling like a raw crucifixion even though
she was so young and had not
breathed her last breath yet
feeling the prematurely stolen breath suck out of her mouth, the little Mexican Queztochoatl child is also a serpent king.

The little girl dies
she was a king inside herself (no less than a king ) but more than a queen. She is
a lizard not a maid and she sometimes
cleans hotel rooms for food - not a burrito
but a prayer with daily hope and vision now as a small Hispanic child in the U.S.

The crowd carries her across the border
where the Rio Grande is small
and contrite in the saguaro desert night
she is reborn as a little Mexican girl no one loves
but the big man in the sky wants
the native Indian girl she is he wants her pura
Pura pura pura graca graca grace
her brown-skinned beauty and sweet little legs
he wants to restrain her foot
tie it up just like all the rest
she thinks quietly to herself and the people
in the dark satanic night join in her prayers

That is what he wants! that is what he wants!
That is what the powerful man wants
Her booty
The rich man wants her booty
The little Mexican girl's beauty

Is he the devil they ask her?
I said no he is not the devil
but he is no friend of mine
he is a man (un hombre) who does not want me
to be free except every now and then
I breathe now but I will not breathe later
with every breath I take I look ahead in fear!con miedo!

He wants to jail me between his legs again
so I can never leave never leave leave leave
the powerful white man who is black inside
not like a black man but a different kind of black
but I am finally a beautiful woman now
although the child
is still a child la nina es una nina todavia
constantly todo el tiempo una cara nina
I always knew he would come to hurt me
one day soon and I waited until this day

Part of his arm is just I had been told
but the rest is dark and ugly they said it again to me
his teeth are black and angry
he is the occult the deep night he is Satan
they will help me, they said in the constituent assembly
if he approaches you in the dark lonely night
remember he is the Dark Night Satanic
not the Star of David or our Christmas Star
the small crowd warned the little Mexican girl
about the looming helicopter in the sky
that had just menaced her

He will find you little pinanita! No lo quiero!
I'm not a pinata, and he is not the occult!!
the little Mexican girl said! A visitor spoke -remember
the algorithm for the matrix
the red bandwidth
the buxom shortwave the Grundig-
the minimization realization of metaphors
Will recognize the oppressed child
it will be awhile before we can risk
the dark curtain again but we will help you-

Lining her water cups up like a gambler
on the southwestern bus depot counter
she felt anger just thinking about the theft
the little Mexican girl yells up to the bitter sky man
she yells to the doomsday pilot over her head
"GET A BETTER LIFE!!
!TENGA UN VIDA MAS BUENA!"
the violent flyer flew away with disappearing infrared
her product stolen
his waning light trailing behind him
the desert looked normal once more - like God
intended it to look - because he is gone
the crowd of people danced a jubilant
dance un jubilante baile celebrando la victori
a de la nina mexicana mixteca

her heart suddenly stopped pounding
stopped racing dangerously fast and became calm again
she realized she was safe again
Lifting her and breathing on her mouth, the people
regained her composure lifting her up to the
blue blue black night comforting sky
so she could become the leader she really is
she almost lost her place in the hierarchy
through a premature prematura death la muerte
but the people embraced the little Mexican girl
who is not ever a maid not a slave
but a king no less
y more than a queen
and held her up to the night sky cherished

While the powerful man didn't see the beauty
of her heritage, the little Mexican girl
doesn't care anymore about him
and laughs - ella sonrie, saying
FORGET THE MAN, THE GRINGO!!
!FORGET HIM!
!HASTA LUEGO YOU LOSER!!
!HASTA PRONTO!
!!GET A LIFE!!
!!VAYA CON DIOS!!
as the helicopter recedes into the distant stars

The little Mexican girl walks away in her favorite shoes
(en sus zapatos favoritos)
relieved she is still alive
walking toward her destined destina destiny
to eat four delicious tacos
para comer quatro tacos deliciosas
because she was not ever once a maid
in her life
in the rich man's room or his bed or bathroom
of the disgraced harem
no one is a domestic there are not words
for her fear in the night
!no more!! no more!! no more!
nunca mas! Nunca mas! Nunca mas!

No more! porque la hija mexicana no es
!!!UNA DOMESTICA!!!
She is a little star a yellow sun with strength and power

ES UN ESTRELLITA UN SOL AMARILLA CON FUERZA
UNA PRAYER UNA BEAUTY

ES UNA BELLEZA DEL REZO,
CADA DIA TODOS LAS DIAS

Almost the End - (Casi El Fin):

when it rains it pours,
las desgracias nunca vienen solas.

The little Mexican girl has hope and courage for the difficult decade she will have. She plans to grow up and fight racial heritage discrimination, as well as the men who fly helicopters in the desert sky over her head. Her conscience will continue to lead her to victory.

The Roulette Game

One of the easiest game in Casino is none other than Roulette. Players become so addicted to this game even in the internet gambling, online roulette is one of the crowds favorite. I think the main reason is players can easily adopt the rules of the game.

Chances are the key to win this game. That's why it was once labeled as "Roulette: A Game of Chance". Simply because of how the game starts and end. The wheel spins and also the ball spins in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track running around the circumference of the wheel. Chances is the key factor of this game. But first, let me give you some short history about how roulette starts.

Roulette was derived from a french word which means "small wheel". A popular mathematician mistakenly invented this game. Blaise Pascal was the reason of all this. In 1655, he was attempting to build a machine that would never lose its momentum but unfortunately roulette was born.

For the sake of the readers, Blaise Pascal also created the formula "Pascals Triangle" which is still taught until now in High Schools.

In the late 18th century, Roulette became very popular when Prince Charles of Monaco introduced gambling to Monaco as a way of alleviating the financial problems of the region. Then in 1842 two Frenchmen, Francois and Louis Blanc add a 0 to the numbers of the roulette wheel. There are now 37 numbers on the roulette, ranging from 0 to 36. Adding the 0 increases the house odds of winning.

But do you know that this game has a tag line of "The Devil's Game"? Because if you add up all the 36 numbers of it the sum is 666 which is the most infamous number in the bible.

There are two different variations or types of roulette. One is American Roulette Wheel and the other is European Roulette Wheel.

American Roulette includes 38 numbers considering 0, 00 and 1 to 36. These two zeros (0, 00) gives the house a 5.26% advantage. In other words, for every $100 a gambler bets, the house will make $5.26 in profit.

European Roulette includes 37 numbers considering 0 and 1 to 36. Having one zero (0) gives the house a 2.70% advantage. In other words, for every $10 a gambler bets, the house will make $2.7 in profit.

The diversion of roulette was made because the single "0" modification was rejected in America and the two zeros "00" where returned to the Roulette wheel.

Roulette also has different betting system to choose from. The choice depends on how much you understand the system, or how much math will it cost, or simply because this is what you want.

Oscar's Grind

The system is very comprehensive and can easily be understand. When you lose in betting one unit, you have to keep your bet on that unit. When you win, increase the size of your bet to one. The goal of the system is to make one unit profit per cycle and when the goal has been achieved, the game stops.

Martingale

This system was considered the most popular of all. The main purpose of this is that the player has to double his bet every time he loses to win his money back and win from there. This system is not for those player who holds their money tightly. Those who are afraid of losing money must use other type of the systems.

There are lots of betting system at this roulette game. Whatever system and types of roulette your playing at, always remember that CHANCES is still the king of this game.

"You can beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it" - Albert Einstein.

Learn About The Interesting And Colorful History Of Roulette

Nearly everyone knows what the game of roulette is. Anyone who has been in a casino has seen the roulette wheel at least once or twice. It is a very entertaining and rudimentary game, which is based solely on chance. It is believed that roulette was invented around the 18th century in France. Many people claim that the idea began when an inventor by the name of Blaise Pascal was attempting to create a perpetual motion machine. Subsequently, what was created was a roulette wheel.

There are many English games that bear resemblance to roulette, which include the Ace of Hearts, Reiner, and roly-poly. The famous roulette game evolved from what it started out as in the 17th century, and subsequently developed a standardized set of rules in Paris in the year 1796. These rules were explicitly described in a novel that was written by Jaques Lablee, which described in extraordinary detail the layout for betting, the colors, the number of arrangements, and much more. This was very attractive to many gamers of the time as well as people who were not previously interested in casino games, but were drawn to the game of roulette after reading this book.

In 1758, there was also another book that functioned as a reference that was published in Québec. When this book aims to do was to let readers know about roulette and why it was banned along with dice, hoca and faro games. The first roulette wheel that was introduced for playing in 1843 by French men from Francois and Luis Blanc, and the wheel that they introduced had only one zero slot. They found this innovation to be an excellent way to decrease the houses advantage over gamblers versus a traditional roulette wheel with two zero slots. This meant that their players had a better chance of winning, and led to the distinguished of the European roulette wheel versus an American roulette wheel, being the number of zeros on the wheel.

Beginning in 1886, the American roulette wheel was originally numbered from 1 to 28, with one zero, one double zero, and an eagle. The highly famous and popular portal gambling books claimed that these zero slots and eagle icon were not holes or bars, but if the ball dropped into one of those three spaces, but also take all of the bets on the table. During the 1800s, playing roulette became contagious in both Europe and the US. Roulette game so much notoriety around the world, it is believed that this is the reason why many avid gamblers spread the game of roulette to so many different countries.

In 1860, the German government abolished gambling in the country, and many other European countries followed suit except for Monte Carlo. This led to the creation of a first-class casino, which encouraged many Europeans to visit Monte Carlo just to gamble. Although the European roulette wheel still only has a single zero, the American roulette wheel still has two zeros. Although Roulette History is very colorful, it still holds the title of the King of casino games.

Gambling On The Wrong Home Business and How It Can Affect You

Gambling can be defined as risking something of value on the outcome of an uncertain event. Every time we risk something of value with an expectation of getting something of greater value, we are gambling. Although it is in some sense a game but people can bet almost anything. The Great Indian epic of Mahabharata portrays a classic example of gambling, where the King Yudhisthir lost everything including wife Draupadi in a game of gambling. King Henry the VIII, once lost the “Jesus Bells” in Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London on a bet with one of his noblemen. In most of the cases of organized legal gambling, chances of winning is calculated on basis of theories based on mathematical permutation and combination, and one person wins only when a certain number of people looses their money. Casinos or gambling houses prefer the word ‘gaming’ over ‘gambling’ to rub off the negative connotations. However, we don’t want to gamble on a home business. Research is the key.

Gambling comes in different forms with different levels of risk involved with them. It has been with the society since the time of recorded history. It is still popular and the expansion is worldwide. It starts in elementary schools when they bet for the favorite WWF start’s card or a new gadget possessed by some friend. Adolescents play pool or buy lottery tickets. That being said we want to explore how legitimate the business is. Who is the owner? How long has the business been going? What are the financials?

For the most part age, gender, race, religion, political affiliation, socioeconomic class, education and intelligence present no barriers whatsoever to our involvement in gambling, but it does in a home business. Stock market investment can also be considered as gambling. It is not perceived as a ‘play’ but can turn risky with high stakes. One must have information and knowledge of the market before investing in stocks. Especially if we are using our savings or taking out a loan for our business, we don’t want to be foolish.

Problem gambling or compulsive gambling is the urge to gamble despite harmful negative consequences. In extreme cases of Pathological gambling, the gambler experience mental disorders. It is a form of impulse control disorder that is a form of chronic, progressive and gradual mental illness. Doctors have identified few steps that can help in diagnosing pathological gambling like preoccupation, tolerance, withdrawal, escape, chasing, lying, loss of control etc.

This is what separates risk from gambling. Is there risk in starting a home business? You bet! But a calculated risk will usually pay off in the end. When you have researched all that you need to make a good decision, it is time to jump. Successful people make up their mind fast. They don’t wait for the stars to align, they take action.

Online Gambling: The Things You Have To Watch Out For Whenever You Gamble Online

For well over a thousand years, maybe more, people have been testing their luck at various games of chance, or gambling. For example In ancient Rome, the locals bet on many sporting events...such as the most unbelievable sporting event EVER...the gladiator fights that took place in the Coliseum. In those days, events like that were some of the best gambling spectacles, and in most cases were for the sole entertainment of the Kings and/or Queens of Europe during the middle ages. Royalty were known to be very serious gamblers, and actually set the tone for that kind of event... In fact, there are many books that cover the subject telling the story that many of the Kings and/or Queens were seriously addicted to gambling, and that many nearly bankrupted their own countries due to their addiction.

Today, you find that gambling still exists and is growing in the number of outlets available, and newest of course is online gambling. Due to the ease of betting systems online, it has become a very popular way of testing one's luck.

Online gambling is becoming an extremely popular way to place your bet, and in so many different ways. There are sports betting sites, luck betting sites, horse betting sites, football betting sites, and also quite a few that touch on the lottery, not to mention some full online gambling casinos. To begin your gambling online experience, you will need a computer with a very fast internet connection, your favorite credit card, and at that point you should be ready to start placing your bets. But there is one other very important item to add to that list; some training and schooling.

There are quite a few items that you need to be aware of whenever you engage in online gambling. First, keep in mind that not all online gambling sites are legal or legitimate. I know that's hard to believe, but it's true. There are going to be people out there that will, and I mean on purpose, try to steal your money! Do your homework to make sure, to the best of your ability, who you are betting with. If you fall into one of these scam sites, you can be assured that all they want is your credit card information. Imagine how bad that could be?

When entering credit card #, and other sensitive info, you want to always look for the HTTPS: in the browser address window...this will tell you that you are on a secure site. A secure site is one where the merchant actually cares about their relationship with their customer, and more than likely not trying to steal you blind. Just do your homework and deal with a merchant that has these protective measures in place for both them, and you.

This is a huge tip...before joining any online gambling website...be absolutely positive that you have the BEST virus and malware programs installed! We have our favorite virus program installed in our computer, and it has saved our hard drives more than once. Don't make the mistake of installing any betting system software without FIRST protecting your computer with a top virus protection software.

We would be remiss if we didn't point out that gambling, whether you do it live or with a computer, can become addictive. Gambling has driven many people into debt, so deep, that they never recover. If you approach gambling as a form of entertainment, you should be just fine. We suggest that you shouldn't ever place a goal on the number of dollars that you want to win; instead, place a limit on the number of dollars that you are willing to lose. Hit that lower goal, and walk away to play another day!

When you do win a few bucks, YIPPEE! Sock it away in your pocket and step away...again to play another day!

Keeping these tips in mind should make sure that you can enjoy your online gambling experience, and make it last for a long time; and keep you from becoming addicted to any of the betting systems out there. If you take anything from this review, I hope that you learn to do more research on your own...and from my perspective, only deal with a seller that has a money back guarantee. And speaking of money - be sure that you are buying from a site that uses PayPal or at least one of the large well known online processors. That way if you do have a problem, you will have somebody in authority that will be able to help you get your money back: should you chose to go that route.

Remember...
1. Do your own research
2. Buy With a Money-Back Guarantee
3. Use a Big-Name Processor.