The game is named after the Theban general Epaminondas, known for the use of phalanx strategy in combat.

Epaminondas was originally introduced in Sid Sackson's A Gamut of Games as Crossings.

While the original version used an 8×8 checkerboard, the current game uses a 12×14 board and different rules for capture.

When published, it claimed to be one of the first modern games to acknowledge the name of its inventor in its rules.

This allows an opponent the chance to capture some of the offending stones on the turn after an incursion, or to counterattack on the opposite side of the board.