Who Invented Backgammon Doubling Cube?

New research found the answer to one of the most intriguing backgammon puzzle: the identity of the doubling cube inventor. As discovered recently, the doubling cube was invented by Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia during the 1920s, when he was living in Paris and playing the French backgammon variation called tric-trac. 

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia was born in 1891, Russia, son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark, and died in 1941 in a Swiss hospital, suffering from tuberculosis related complications. He is mostly known for his connection to the famous killing of Grigori Rasputin, a Russia mystic who has been inspiring Tsar Nicholas II and his family, and by that apparently, contributing to the ruin the reputation of the Tsar government.

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia (right) and his wife Audrey Embry

According to our resource, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia was also an active socialite (living in London, Paris, New York and Florida), playboy (his name was attached to dozens of women, including Coco Chanel with whom he invented the world's most famous perfume "Chanel 5" and at least one man, Felix Yusupov, his cousin and associate to Rasputin murder; he married American inheritor Audrey Embry, with whom he had one son, who later became the Mayor of Palm Beach) and gambler (which explains his interest in gambling related gadgets as backgammon doubling cube). 

However, from now on, millions of backgammon fans worldwide will be cherishing Grand Duke Dmitri for inventing the doubling cube, the sole most significant innovation in modern backgammon history. The doubling cube energizes and intensifies backgammon matches and strengthens the strategy element of the game, by forcing backgammon players to ask themselves questions such as: when is the right time to double? Should I take or drop in a given position? And should I redouble? 

Played with the doubling cube, backgammon has lots more options to make the game more interesting. For example, the "beaver" rule, allowing the player who had just doubled to hold the cube and offer an immediate re-double, or the "raccoon" rule, in which the player who agreed to a "beaver", can, without delay, to offer another re-double.