Snapshot · Freakonomics Radio
Backgammon and its variants have been played continuously in the Middle East since approximately 3000 BCE, making it one of the oldest board games in recorded history.
Where this was said
At 35:18 · chapter starts 34:20
Asked about his view that gambling can be a virtue rather than a vice, Olsson draws a clean conceptual line: at a roulette table, you have zero control over outcomes, and there is nothing to learn or improve. In backgammon, poker, or sports betting, an informational edge is achievable through analysis and work — and the market punishes bad decisions immediately. This instant feedback loop, Olsson argues, hardens a player's mental resilience, teaches them to manage stress and misfortune, and rewards sustained effort. He connects this to backgammon's deeper evolutionary history: humans have played dice games for roughly as long as dice have existed, and backgammon in particular evolved over millennia into what Olsson calls a 'perfect equilibrium style of game' — not too long, not too short, with exactly the right luck-to-skill ratio. He teaches his son to play for all these reasons.
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