The Libro de los juegos, or Libro de axedrez, dados e tablas, was a Spanish treaty of chess which synthesized the information from other Arabic works on this same topic, dice and tables games, commissioned by Alfonso X of Castile, Galicia and León and completed in his scriptorium in Toledo in 1283. It contains the earliest European treatise on chess as well as being the oldest document on European tables games, and is an exemplary piece of the literary legacy of the Toledo School of Translators.
The game of astronomical tables, from Libro de los juegos
Chess problem #35
Chess problem featuring Moors of Spain.
Seis, dos, y as
Tables games are a class of board game that includes backgammon and which are played on a tables board, typically with two rows of 12 vertical markings called points. Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tables games are among the oldest known board games, and many different varieties are played throughout the world. They are called 'tables' games because the boards consist of four quadrants or 'tables'. The vast majority are race games, the tables board representing a linear race track with start and finish points, the aim being to be first to the finish line, but the characteristic features that distinguish tables games from other race games are that they are two-player games using a large number of pieces, usually fifteen per player.
Tables game
Roman Ludus duodecim scriptorum board from the 2nd century, Aphrodisias
Burzoe demonstrates the game of nard to the Indian Rajas
Backgammon set from around the 10th century, China