It is about time to update you with the latest Play65 quiz and quiz results. Starting with the new quiz, number 16, it’s an easy one: in which popular TV series in which the backgammon game was taught? If you know the answer, mark, fill in the required details, submit and wait for a surprising extra $20 in your online account. 

Now for last week’s backgammon and hockey quiz. The hockey player who served as a stake in a backgammon game played by two hockey entrepreneurs is Wayne Gretzky, who is regarded by many as the best hockey player of all times. The story, described at Peter Gzowski’s book The Game of Our Lives, goes like this: 

In 1978, Canadian Wayne Gretzky was a young promising hockey player holding a $1.75 million contract with the Indianapolis Racers, Nelson Skalbania owned the Racers, Peter Pocklington owned the Edmonton Oilers, both teams did not belong to NHL and both owners engaged for a backgammon game during a flight in a private jet. 

And it was a high stakes backgammon game: Pocklington put $850,000, Wayne Gretzky and two more hockey players, and Skalbania bet on an artwork from his collection. Skalbania won the backgammon game, so Gretzky started wearing the Edmonton Oilers uniform, and the rest is written in hockey history. 

The answer to last week’s mysterious backgammon quiz will be revealed soon. But first, the 15th backgammon quiz:

Which famous hockey player was won in a backgammon game between two hockey entrepreneurs?

For more details, hints and pointers, or to submit the answer and attempt to capture the $20 bonus, visit Play65 quiz page. 

Emotional backgammon is not the term that describes the coincidence of meeting your true love in a backgammon game (we call it backgammon match-making), and it’s definitely not a sequence of 3 double 6’s and it’s not even the familiar situation of being unable to stop playing backgammon (no, it is called backgammon addiction and it can be cured).

Emotional Backgammon is the name of a forgotten movie of 2003 with the unforgettable tagline: "Love is like a game of backgammon… You take your chances." The relationship comedy-drama uses backgammon as a metaphor for the love game or the battle between the sexes, depending on how you like to see it. And since backgammon is a game of skill more than it a game of chance, the movie’s hero, who was neglected by his girlfriend right before he went down on his knees to propose to her, gets strategy advice from his cynical friend.

While we are on the subject, here is a backgammon strategy advice from our mutual friend Phil Simborg: don’t show emotion or give away what you are thinking to your opponents.

Someone who has no doubts about the meaning of the term emotional backgammon is a Play65 member nicknamed krokrodil based in Zagreb, Croatia, who got away with last week’s $20 bonus.

Remember Kevin Jessup, the first winner of Play65 $200 bonus? Well, for the festive occasion of winning Play65 backgammon quiz first quarterly draw, we had a little chat with Kevin on playing backgammon online and in live tournaments, winning Play65 bonuses and more.

"Winning Play65 quiz was certainly a great surprise", Kevin says at the beginning of our conversation, and then goes down memory lane: "I first became aware of Play65 when playing in FIBS tournaments that are organized by David Escoffrey. An advertisement for Play65 comes up as you are about to log off and I was directed to the site from there. I think this was about 3 years ago." 

Q: When did you first start playing backgammon?

Kevin: "I first started to play backgammon in 1981…I live in Melbourne, Australia and one weekend went to special festivities conducted in central Melbourne on what is known as Moomba weekend.The Melbourne Backgammon Club was represented at this festival and had a promotion called “Beat the Champ”.I barely knew the game but beat the Champ and was intrigued to go along to the Club nights where I progressively learnt how to play the game."

On Playing Backgammon Tournaments Live:

"I have been to many live backgammon tournaments. There were many conducted all around Australia in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. For many years I was an executive member of the backgammon club in Melbourne and we conducted two major tournaments each year from around 1985 to 1992. I was fortunate to win a large tournament that was conducted at Wrest Point Casino in Hobart, Tasmania. 

Coincidentally, I have just returned from competing in the 2008 Australian Backgammon Championship conducted in Queensland at Surfers Paradise during last weekend. This is the first major tournament run in Australia for many years and there were about 60 participants." 

On his Collection of Backgammon Boards:

"At last count I think there are about four or five backgammon boards in my house. Back in the 1980’s I traveled to Hong Kong on a number of occasions where I purchased a couple of leather backgammon boards.  More recently I purchased a hand crafted leather board from England complete with mother of pearl pieces – I am very proud to show off this set. I also have quite a library of backgammon books that have been published over the past 20 years or so."

  Example of a Mosaic Backgammon & Chess Board with Mother of Pearl

Online Backgammon vs. Live Backgammon

"I have no preference and like to play either face to face or online. Online has the great advantage of a constant instant pip count. Face to face you can start to read your opponent and probably more quickly work out their game style – maybe a little like poker." 

Playing Online Backgammon from Australia

"Living in Melbourne is a disadvantage because of the time zones.  I generally play on Play65 at night-time our time, which is around 9.00am to Midday GMT, although there are not so many people online at that time. I like to participate in the big tourneys at 20.00 GMT but this means being online at 6.00 a.m. my time, which can be a bit of a challenge at times. "

And finally, Kevin’s advice to new backgammon players:

"When you first learn the game try to play as much as you can with players who are more experienced than you and get them to explain why they make moves in the manner that they do.  Then seek out and read any backgammon books that you can find as these will broaden your knowledge on the finer points of the game."

Two Play65 players got extra bonuses this week: the winner of last week’s backgammon quiz and the winner of the first quarterly bonus who was rewarded with a $200 bonus.

First, the answer to last week’s quiz - asking about the only three-times European backgammon champion - is François Tardieu. The French backgammon player, number 3 on the Giants of Backgammon list 2005-2007, has been playing backgammon seriously for over 20 years. Recently, he made some headlines in the poker world, winning the Partouche Poker Tour Super Satellite and qualifying for the Main Event scheduled to September.

The winner of the $200 quarterly bonus draw is a veteran Australian player known as KevinJessup who has been playing backgammon on Play65 since August 2008 and was recently named the winner of the 4th backgammon quiz after knowing that Kylie Minogue is the singer who was caught playing backgammon at the luxurious Pikes Hotel in San Antonio, Ibiza.

You still got a chance to win the next $200 quarterly bonus. Start by answering the current week’s quiz: what is emotional backgammon?

Looking for Play65 viral ad on the web? Or maybe you want to get another glimpse at Play65 video tutorials? From now on, you no longer have to browse through dozens of irrelevant results (not to mention nude backgammon) to get what you want.

Play65 Videos is a new website that gathers, you’ve guessed right, all of Play65 videos including online backgammon and live backgammon tutorials, backgammon tournaments, advertisements, and other stuff, for example, a dog’s failed attempt to open Play65 backgammon board:

So, what happened to the 3 Play65 qualifiers who had made it into the final of the 2007-8 World Series of Backgammon in Cannes?

As you recall, Play65 sent 3 players to the 2008 WSOB final at the Palm Beach Casino in the French Riviera. The 3 players - Andrew Plater of England, Athanasios Lagopatis of Germany and Aron Korper of the Netherlands – were the winners of the special qualifying tournaments held on Play65 throughout May, June and July. This trio got to play against the world’s top ranked backgammon players and against online and live qualifiers as themselves.

Aron Korper, who played a live backgammon game for the first time, was defeated 3-2 by Falafel Natanzon, the Israeli backgammon player who was named 2007 Giant of Backgammon, and dropped out of the competition. Athanasios Lagopatis, who was placed against Rida Hassan, number 1 on World Series of Backgammon ranking list, lost 3-0 and left the tour. Andrew Plater played against John Hurst, the winner of the UK Masters, the first stop of the 2007-8 World Series of Backgammon, won 3-2 and progressed to the quarter finals.

On the quarter finals of the WSOB finale, Andrew Plater faced French Frederick Andrieu, another super satellite qualifier, and lost 3-0. Frederick Andrieu, on the other hand, moved up to the semi finals and then to the finals, beat American Robert (Bob) Koca and won the prestigious WSOB Championship title and the grand prize - €100,000.

In addition, two members of Play65 Danish team, who previously represented our backgammon site at the 2008 WSOB Nordic Open, played the WSOB Final as part of the 8 top ranked players in the world. Jacob Simonsen made it to the quarter finals, where he lost to the 2008 WSOB finalist, Bob Koca. At the same time, Karsten Bredahl lost to Falafel, yet became the number 1 ranked player in the world with 1750.8 rating points.

Since photographing during the WSOB final was prohibited, here are some more pics from the Riviera Cup:

Backgammon quiz no. 13 went online yesterday, so if you have a clue about the backgammon player who won the European Backgammon Championship 3 times, you can submit your answer. It also indicates that 12 weeks have passed since the first backgammon quiz, which means that the promised $200 quarterly draw (in which one of the 12 past winners will be rewarded with a $200 bonus) is due any minute now. 

As for last week’s backgammon quiz, asking about a 2008 movie with a famous real money backgammon game behind its scenes, the answer is Mad Money. Directed by Callie Khouri with performances by Diane Keaton, Katie Holmes and Queen Latifah, the crime comedy about three Federal Reserve who plan to steal money from their workplace wasn’t appraised by the critics, but still did well in the box offices. Here is the movie trailer:

Play65 new backgammon quiz is up. This week’s question is about a real money backgammon game held at the set of a 2008 movie. The backgammon game caused an actor named Adam Rothenberg to lose lots of money to his colleague Roger Cross. The movie, dealt with three Federal Reserve female workers who planned to steal money that was subject to destruction. If you recall the name of the movie (which isn’t such a difficult task – first, cause it is a rather new movie and secondly, because you have four options to choose from), you can submit the answer and even win $20 bonus!

Last week’s backgammon quiz was about a crime incident where a Greek cop was caught and arrest during a backgammon game for an alleged 2004 crime. The crime was not an illegal parking at a bus stop, not illegal fishing and even not stealth of an ambulance. The 23 years old cop’s backgammon game was stopped for a much trivial crime – bank robbery. crys_cos of Romania is the winner of this Play65 quiz and $20 bonus, and along of the rest of the winners, he will take part in the quarterly $200 bonus draw.

 

And speaking of backgammon champions, Play65 decided to allocate a special room for the crème of the crème of its players. Called the "Giants Room", Play65 new champions room is open for members of 1800 rating and over. All those championship-level players will be able to compete against one another with lower rates and better terms. 

For example:

• 2.45% rake on games (single or series of games) played on more than $500
• 10% discount on games played on up to $50
• 15% discount on games played on $50 and up
• Maximum commission of $20

The 11th backgammon quiz, online since yesterday, brings up an odd story from 2004, directed indirectly to backgammon. Once upon a time in 2004, a local policeman was arrested in Patras, Greece while playing backgammon. The quiz asks about the cause of his arrest – was it due to an act of illegal parking, bank robbery, illegal fishing or stealing of an ambulance? If you know the answer, submit it and get into the weekly $20 bonus draw. 

Last week’s Play65 quiz brought up an even odder seeming story. As you may recall, it asked about a film festival in which a Salt Backgammon Tournament was held in the company of a huge salt backgammon sculpture. The right answer was Venice film festival, but it is only part of the answer.

Salt Backgammon Tournament

The Salt Backgammon Tournament, or "Una Notte di Sale" in Italy’s local language, was part of an installation made by Bettina Werner, a New York artist who is recognized with her salt crystal works of art. 

The Salt Backgammon Tournament took place during the 2005 Venice Film Festival at the ancient monastery in the Lido of Venice in the presence of some of Werner’s creations: huge backgammon board and dice composed of Sicilian salt. The winner of the special VIP backgammon tournament, the American shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, took home a $5,000 salt sculpture of a backgammon board.

The 2005 Venice Film Festival Salt Backgammon Tournament wasn’t the first time Bettina Werner artworks were involved in a backgammon competition, as equipment as well as the top prize. The artist has been making backgammon boards out of salt since 1994; since then, she was involved in several charity backgammon tournaments in which her famed salty boards were offered as a trophy.