Exactly 4 years ago, the new edition of Magriel’s Backgammon was published. The classic backgammon book was first published in 1976 and was regarded for years as the backgammon bible. Back then, it was the first book to introduce terms such checkers play and positional play in an easy to understand language. Generations of backgammon players have grew up on Magriel’s Backgammon and the legend continued to haunt backgammon players even when worn out copies of the books were rarely found in used book shops.

The new edition of the classic book, which was published in 2004 by Rose Press, put an end to these searches. On top of the original content, the 2004 edition of the book featured a prologue by Renée Magriel Roberts (half of the book authors and the former wife of the second half, Paul Magriel, also known as X-22) with fascinating inside stories on the 1970’s Las Vegas backgammon scene.

If you are a Play65 backgammon player and part of Play65 Facebook group, you can easily win a free $20 bonus every month. All you have to do is contribute to Play65 wall or discussion board by sharing your thoughts, experiences, ideas and so on. Every month, the most creative writer, the one who posted the funniest/smartest/most original posts will have the $20 bonus added to his online account.

So, don’t you have anything to say?

Chouette (owl in French) is a backgammon variant designed for three or more players. Due to its rapid, action packed nature and the fact that it can be played by more than two players (who can leave or join the game at any time); chouette is one of the most popular variations of backgammon, online and on the table. 

Chouette is played according to standards backgammon rules but the doubling cube rules are different. For example, Jacoby rule and beavers can be applied but raccoons are prohibited. If a team member refuses to double, he may sell the value of the cube (prior to the doubling) to the captain. Additionally, team players can consult after turning the cube and offer a settlement at any point of the game.

Living in Europe? Lucky you. You can prepare yourself for action packed evening in front of the telly, starting this Sunday,  December 23 at 10 pm (GMT).

The broadcast of the 2007 World Series of Backgammon will start with a special preview show (on Eurosport 1) and continuing with the highlights of the UK Masters backgammon tournament (Eurosport 2), which will run 4 nights in a row from December 26 to December 29 at 22:15 GMT.

The WSOB events have been broadcast in more than 50 European countries as well as in Canada (via ESPN International Casino and Gaming TV) for several years now. Recently, backgammon and poker star Gus Hansen has joined the veteran backgammon kibitzer John Clark to the WSOB presentation team. Therefore, you can use the opportunity to grab handful of useful advise from the pros.

The winner of the photo competition is LIORHUGI:

The winners of the latest $50,000 Grand Online Backgammon Tournament are:

Winner: bluetrash  of Japan who took the grand first prize of $5000 in cash

Finalist: Lucky Lady of USA who won $3000

Semi Finalists: raduga22 (russia) and flusha (Germany) won $2000 each.

As promised, the updates from Play65 final four at the 19th City of Venice International Backgammon Tournament is on its way…It turns out that if you win on play65 online backgammon tournament, you have better chances to win in one of the top backgammon tournaments in the world…

In other words, two of our representatives in the Venice International Backgammon Tournament Italian Giuseppe Ricciardi and Michael Schmidt of Germany took the championship and the finalist titles (respectively) in the Double “Davis” European Championship.

The Double “Davis” European Championship is based on the same formula applied in tennis “Davis Cup” championship: two single matches, a consultation and then two more single matches. In the last match, Giuseppe Ricciardi coupled up with Italian player Piero Gallo, whom together took the victory from Michael Schmidt and his German fellow Uli Koch. Simple arithmetics shows you that half of the winners in the Davis European backgammon championship was taken by Play65 winners. Doesn’t it make you feel proud?

If you were looking for a special Christmas present, you might be delighted to read that Braroe Chess is throwing a special 12-days sale.

Braroe Chess is an online shop that specializes in board gaming equipment, especially chess and backgammon boards, checkers and sets. Starting on Monday, December 3rd and until December 15,  each day one item of the online shop’s board game supplies (including chess and backgammon) will be offered in special discount.
In the meantime, a $199.95 chess board was offered for $109.95. You should check it out, it could be worthwhile.