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 games should not be confused with table games which are casino gambling games like roulette or blackjack.

The word "tables" is derived from the Latin tabula which primarily meant 'board' or 'plank', but also referred to this genre of game. From its plural form, tabulae, come the names in other languages for this family of games including the Anglo-Saxon toefel, German [wurf]zabel, Greek tavli, Italian tavoli, Scandinavian tafl, Spanish tablas and, of course, English and French tables. The reason for the plural is twofold: first, that a tables board comprises four separate quadrants which are a feature of the play; and second, that tabulae also came to refer to the individual pieces – "tablemen" or "men" for short – used in the various games.

Most, but not all, tables games are a type of race game. They are characterised as being:

Tables games may be classified by movement or by tactics.

Parlett (1999) identifies three different modes of movement in tables games:

A small number of tables games involve no actual movement of pieces around the board. Instead pieces are entered or borne off or both, the aim being to be the first player to do so. Examples include Alfonso's Los Doze Canes also called Los Doze Hermanos, the English games of Doublets and Catch Dolt, the French games Renette, Tables Rabattues and Paumecary, the Icelandic game of Ofanfelling and the Levantine game of Eureika. Most of these games are simple pursuits suitable for children.

This is the group to which Backgammon belongs. Some start with all pieces off the board, others with a fixed starting layout, but the aim in every case is to race them around the board in opposite directions and be first to bear them off. The group also includes Acey Deucey, known as Gegenpuff in German-speaking countries, Plakota, the "English Game", the Spanish games of Emperador, Quinze Tablas and Todas Tablas, the Italian games of Tavole Reales and Testa, and the French games of Tieste, Impérial and Trictrac.