A backgammon player named Badri Tsertsvadze got caught last week at the final day of the Partouche Gammon Tour in France with a crooked dice. The dice was found missing the number 2 but with extra pair of 5s. Needless to mention how this supposedly slight modification changes the player’s possibilities and opens him an entirely new world of good rolls. So the alleged crook was taken to the police by the Partouche Casino Security where he was charged with attempted fraud and another court discussion in his case was set to December.
This attempt fraud story raises more questions: is it possible that the guy was playing with the wonder dice in other tournaments (including ones where he made some respectable achievements such as the 1st place at the French Open Masters, Last Chance winning at the 19th City Of Venice International Backgammon Tournament, among others)? And if so, which backgammon association can deal with this and protect the players from this kind of abuse?
Therefore, Eric Guedj, the director of the PartoucheGammon Tour, decided to take advantage of this unpleasant circumstance and to invite his colleagues to form a new, stronger backgammon body, who will keep up his promise of fair and honest play in all backgammon tournaments.
When playing backgammon online, things are not always quite so clean. Online players can do terrible things to one another, from calling out names to disconnecting right before losing, but at least you can be certain that the dice won’t be manipulated by your opponent.
"CHARMEDONE75" of Bakersfield, California is the winner of Play65 8th quiz and the first woman to ever win the desirable $20 bonus!
The right answer to last week’s question (asking about the painter who included a backgammon board in his "The Triumph of Death" painting of 1562) is Pieter Bruegel. "The Triumph of Death", currently exhibited at the Prado Museum in Madrid, is a macabre masterpiece, which depicts on top of a deserted backgammon board, a herd of skeletons ambushing the living people and executing their deaths, either by drowning, throat-slitting, burring alive, etc.
The Triumph of Death – on the right bottom: a backgammon board
The new quiz on Play65 asks about the meaning of the ancient Chinese backgammon variant called "Shan-liu". Does "Shan-liu" means battle on the board, twenty four triangles, hit and run or double six? If you know the answer, you might find yourself $20 richer next week, and if you don’t, be bold and take a wild guess; when worse comes to worse you might just not win!
And finally, a tribute to our first female winner:
California Girls by The Beach Boys: Oldies but Goldies
Play65 has launched a new bonus, where players who’ll make an initial deposit of $100 will automatically win a free iPod Shuffle. In the meantime, the promotion is running only in Israel, once it will open to residents of other countries, you’ll be the first to know.
To win the prestigious portable media player, one must:
Download play65 software
Open a real money player account
Insert the bonus code IPOD
Coming up, elaborated explanations in Hebrew:
Play65 יוצאת במבצע חדש המיועד, בשלב זה, למשתמשים דוברי העברית של התוכנה. במסגרת המבצע, שחקנים אשר יפקידו 100$ בהפקדה ראשונה, יזכו בiPod Shuffle חינם, ללא הגרלה. שימו לב שהמבצע מוגבל בזמן ויימשך עד ה-31.7.08 בלבד.
In this week’s backgammon quiz, a little bit of background in the history of art will bring you nearer to the weekly $20 bonus and/or the quarterly $200 bonus. The question is: who painted the backgammon board shown on the 1562 "The Triumph of Death"? If you are still unfamiliar with the drill, go visit play65 backgammon quiz rules.
Last week’s backgammon question wondered about a royalty member who had organized the first ever major European tournament in Monte Carlo. The answer is Prince Alexis Obolensky and the winner is a lucky Play65 member of Bulgaria.
Prince Alexis Obolensky is seen as the father of modern backgammon, whom under his influence backgammon flourished in the USA and worldwide in the 1970s. Before organizing the European backgammon tournament in Monte Carlo in 1973, the Prince had set up the first significant international tournament in the Bahamas in 1964. As the president of the World Backgammon Club, Prince Alexis Obolensky took care of organizing large backgammon events decorated with everybody who is somebody in the social elite, and promoting modern backgammon worldwide.
The 7th backgammon quiz in Play65 series of quizzes is online since yesterday and dozens of eager backgammon players are pressing submit madly. This week’s question is rather easy: who had organized the first major European backgammon tournament in 1973 in Monte Carlo?
The answer to last week’s backgammon question is Greece. Greece is the country where the backgammon variation Fevga is played. Fevga is one of the three board games belong to the Tavli family of games (the other two are Portes and Plakoto). Fevga is considered the most challenging game of all Tavli games. Fevga is played on a standard backgammon board with regular checkers and dice (yet without the doubling cube). Click here to learn how to play Fevga.
And a special bonus: "Nude backgammon with swimsuit models"
Where will you play a backgammon variant called Fevga? If you know the right answer, fill in Play65 6th backgammon quiz and what do you know – you might win $20 bonus.
At the same opportunity, you might like to know the correct answer to last week’s backgammon quiz. 15. If you have two checkers left to bear off and win the game, one on your 6 point, and the second on your 1 point, then in 15 of the possible 36 rolls you’ll be able to bear off both checkers.
Well, not really, but Kylie Minogue was the right answer on Play65 4th quiz, which was wondering about a famous singer who had spent her Ibiza holiday sun bathing and playing backgammon at the same time. The winner of the 4th quiz $20 bonus is KevinJessup of Victoria, Australia.
Backgammon quiz no. 5 is about dice roll possibilities: if you need to bear off two checkers to win the game, while one checker is on your 6-point and the other on your 1, on how many possible dice rolls out of 36 can you bear off both checkers? The possible answers are: 12, 13, 14 or 15.
If you are answering play65 quiz for the first time, simply mark the correct answer, fill in the required details and click on submit. If you gave the right answer and your name came up in the weekly draw, you’ll be notified next Sunday and a $20 bonus will be on its way to your online account.
Still, can’t draw back from a promise, so especially for you, Kylie on Play65 blog:
Our acquaintance, Phil Simborg, reports from the Chicago Open ABT Tournament:
I am sad to report that I lost in the Open and am playing last chance (I did win the first two rounds including a win over the great Herb Roman in Round 2).
In the Open Div, the Semis are Sam Pottle vs. John Jennings and Chris Yep vs. Alan Grunwald (I own John and Alan in the Calcutta along with my partner, Scott Casty, who is in the finals of Intermediate, and we own him as well!)
In one of my later matches, this interesting positions came up. Black trails 0-4 in a match to15 and is on roll. Cube action?
As you can see from the GNU rollout below, it’s double/pass:
The fourth week of Play65 backgammon quiz begun yesterday with a brand new question: which famous singer spent a holiday playing backgammon at a luxurious hotel in Ibiza?
If you know the answer, just check it, fill in your username and email address and submit. If you’ll be lucky, your name will be drawn and you’ll get a $20 bonus delivered straight into your Play65 account. Ha! And you thought that reading celebrity gossip was a waste of time!
What more can you ask (except for a backgammon board)?
3rd Backgammon Quiz
As for last week’s backgammon quiz, the answer is Victoria Smirnoff (who won the 2000 Doubles Consulting World Backgammon Championship in Switzerland together with Paul Magriel) and the winner is pressureplay, a 39 years old guy from Queensland, Australia.
