Doubling cube invented ~1920s
The doubling cube, which adds strategic gambling leverage to backgammon, was invented in the 1920s — a relatively recent addition to a game thousands of years old.
Snapshot · Freakonomics Radio
677. Can Backgammon Save Us from Ourselves?
Explore episode
Jun 12, 2026
Where this was said
Frank Frigo on Why Backgammon Is the Greatest Game
At 13:30 · chapter starts 9:20
At a backgammon meetup in Venice Beach, Los Angeles — where Dubner and grandmaster Bob Wachtel teamed up to beat Frank Frigo and Melissa Shin — Dubner sat down with Frigo to hear the case for backgammon as the greatest game on earth. Frigo is emphatic: the game has everything — complexity, pace, a beautiful aesthetic, a global tournament scene, and a tactile, sensory richness. He estimates around 300 million people play worldwide. He explains the basic structure (a race to bear off 15 checkers, with contact and blocking along the way) before diving into the doubling cube — the 1920s invention that transformed backgammon into a gambling and strategic tour de force. The cube isn't just a multiplier; it's the only component of the game that a player controls unilaterally, and owning it gives you both the right to play to the end and the right to escalate pressure on your opponent. Mark Olsson adds that failing to handle the cube correctly means you will never win a tournament.
300 million global players
Frank Frigo estimates approximately 300 million people play backgammon worldwide, making it one of the most widely played board games on the planet.
Frank Frigo on the Doubling Cube: A Weapon, Not a Scorecard
The doubling cube isn't just a way to keep score — it's the most strategically complex element of backgammon and the only part of the game a player can unilaterally control. Owning the cube means owning the right to escalate and apply psychological pressure.
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