Backgammon is a game of skill and strategy and one of the world's classic parlour games, played for recreation and as a gambling game. Like Mahjong, this is a game that is played in social groups in coffee houses and bars. Historically variants of this game are believed to have originated in Egypt over 3000 years ago, but was picked up by the Romans and then later to India. It also spread to east Asia, but was then largely replaced by Xiangqi (Chinese chess). It is now very popular in the west.