1.

Play65 closes February with a large backgammon tournament – Backgammon Arena €4000 on February 28th, 2010 20:00 GMT. Entry fees are €45, and there are satellites everyday 18:30 and 21:30*. Winner gets €1200!

* For free entry to the daily satellites, deposit $€₤100 and enter the coupon code: BGARENA

2.

Should backgammon be in the Olympics? The instinctive answer would be no, but if curling is sports, and ESPN dared to suggest to include poker among the Olympic Games, we can contemplate the idea as well.

Most of the poker players who discussed this half-amused notion with the ESPN columnist, agreed that poker does not belong to the Olympics. Poker, like backgammon, is not really a physical activity, it involves some amount of luck, and its skill element finds expression only in the long run - after a week long tournaments marathon or its 27-points match backgammon equivalent.

Poker author Nolan Dalla thinks otherwise:

"I have just two words for anyone opposed to poker as an Olympic sport: synchronized swimming."

athletes in action

Play65 is inviting you for a special backgammon tournament for Valentine’s Day

DON’T PLAY WITH YOURSELF ON VALENTINE‘S DAY

PLAY WITH REAL PEOPLE!

The tournament will be on February 13th* at 20:00 GMT

Prize pool starts from $1000 with $300 guaranteed to the winner.

* Technically Play65 Valentine’s tournament is at Valentine’s Day eve, so you can still play with yourself on Valentine’s Day, buy pink teddy bears, soak your partner’s body with aromatic message oils, go for a moonlit snowshoe tour or a romantic dinner & movie, etc.

Today, 31st of January, Independence Day is celebrated in the Republic of Nauru in the South Pacific. It is also Justin Timberlake’s birthday and International Leprosy Day. But, that’s not why Play65 is running a $5,000 backgammon tournament (though you are invited to donate your earnings to a leprosy trust of your choice).

In fact, there is no special reason for running a +5K tournament tonight at 20:30 GMT with $58 buy-in, 16 winners and $850 as first prize.

Satellite to the $5,000 tournament will begin on 18:45 GMT with only $8 buy in.

Play65 is happy to introduce a new tournament, Pacific Time $300+, plus new and improved satellite tournaments.

Play65 Goes Pacific

The new $300+ Pacific Time tournament will take place every Saturday at 18:00 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time); Europeans and Middle Easterns can set the alarm clock to 02:00 (GMT) on Sunday. The entry free for the tournament is only $5 and the prize pool split between the top 16 players; the winner will go home with at least $112.

moonjazz

New Satellite Tournaments

Play65 satellite tournaments now allow more players to win great prizes: entry fees to a bigger event or cash prizes. For example, if the number of entrants to a satellite was higher than the required minimum, then the finalist wins the rest of the prize pool (minus commission). If the number of players is twice the minimum – the winner and the finalist get free entry to the bigger tournament. If the number of players is bigger than twice the minimum, then the two finalist receive free entries and the semi-finalists share the rest of the prize pool.

Note that there are two types of satellite tournaments in Play65:

Sit & Gos - with undetermined time and limited number of participants – can be found in the game lobby by clicking on the Sit and Go tab -> Satellite tab
And Event satellites – with predetermined date and time, unlimited number of participants and a prize pool that grows according to the number of players - available on the Satellites tab in the Tournaments tab in the game lobby.

Play65 invites you to open 2010 New Year’s celebration in an online backgammon tournament:

December 31, 2009 at 19:00 GMT

€20.10 entry fees

€2010+ prize - divided between 2 players:

1st place: €2010; 2nd place: all the moneys accumulated over €2010

Happy New Year!

Special Play65 tournaments for the holidays and some surprising backgammon related gifts.

Play65 is inviting you to celebrate the upcoming holidays in two special events:

€10,000 Xmas, the first and the biggest, will take place on Christmas evening, December 25th 2009 at 20:00 GMT with €10.000 prize pool, to be divided between 128 players. Entry fees are €100, and follow Play65 tournament schedule for satellites.

€2010 New Year’s Tournament is the second festive event that marks the end of the year and the beginning of the new year with a €2010 prize given to the winner, while every additional prize money will be given to the runner up. Entry fees are €20.10 and the tournament is scheduled to December 31st, at 20:10 19:00 GMT.

Backgammon Gift Ideas

What can you buy a backgammon fan who already has the best backgammon board, most precise dice and the fullest backgammon books library?

Traveling backgammon players enjoy the richest variant of backgammon accessories and gifts. From a game board bandana that serves as a head cover, body cover, towel, blanket and backgammon, chess and checkers board in one (£10.00, about €11.27 or $16.16) to a handmade knitted backgammon set vintage Bakelite and mother of pearl buttons ($5, about €3.5).

 via etsy

Backgammon nuts who want to surround themselves with triangles in alternating colors would not face a skint selection of objects either. For $15.99 (or €11.15), they can have backgammon bracelet, "the perfect accessory for game nights or days playing chess in the park" (for wrists no thicker then 8 inches or 20.32 cm).

via Modcloth

Or a 20"x20" backgammon board pattern with cross stitched gladiolus Iris as triangles. It is so beautiful you should probably frame it and break the glass only in case of emergency. $3.50/€2.44 etsy again.

From tomorrow night (December 12th at midnight GMT) Play65 will be revealing its dark side. On every night on this coming week, the online backgammon room will be violently slashing the rakes to a maximum of 3% or €15. All of you owls, vampires, aussies and other sleep deprived creatures are welcome to take advantage and play backgammon until the morning comes.

Play65 Dark Week – from December 12th to 19th, 00:00 – 06:00 GMT

After sending three winning contestants to the Cyprus Backgammon Open (see pictures below), Play65 is now sponsoring the 1st Meribel Backgammon Tournament and giving a special $50 bonus to the Meribel participants with an account on Play65.

The Meribel International Backgammon Tournament will be inaugurated this weekend, from the 10th to the 13th in December, in Meribel, an Alpine village in France with the biggest ski area in the world. The new international backgammon tournament is directed and organized by Backgammon in London team, Mike Main and Clive Kaye, and the French backgammon player Scarlett Serrero will serve as the tournament assistant. Among the players who ensured their participations are the 2009 World Backgammon Champion, Mochy, Chris Ternel, Raj Jansari and many others.

Play65 is happy to sponsor the backgammon event, which collects no registration fees, and gives 100% of the entry fees as prizes (on top of $5000 added money). Play65 is also happy to encourage its players to open ski season with a backgammon tournament and offer them free $50 bonus if they will take part in the Meribel Backgammon Tournament.

As promised, some pictures from the Cyprus Backgammon Open:

120 Backgammon Games an Hour

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Play65 has added two new speed game modes to its online backgammon platform including a fast game (up to 15 seconds a move) and a lightning blitz backgammon games with only 10 seconds a move and no more than 30 seconds a game.

Backgammon blitz games (not to be confused with the blitz game plan, when a player hits the opponent’s blots in his homeboard in order to make it difficult for the opponent to re-enter from the bar) is commonly played as a side event in many tournaments worldwide, where it is limited to 1-2 point matches. One of the benefits of playing blitz backgammon online is that its speedy time limitation can prevents anyone from using bots.

BGblitz is also the name of the backgammon software used by Play65 when one of the players disconnects in real money backgammon games, or when the time ends before the game, to decide who is the predicted winner and how the stake should be divided between the two players. As you may recall, the software has been recently updated and adjusted to better suit Play65 needs and provide more accurate predictions.

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Cyprus Qualifiers Winners

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

Three Play65 members won backgammon vacations at the beautiful Cyprus capital, Nikosia. The three, David Bar of Israel, aka agaso741, Juergen R. Orlowski (orlowski) and Sven Rumcker (honeydripper), both of Germany, have overcame a field of 16-23 players to win the €500 seats at the upcoming Cyprus Backgammon Open tournament, plus fight and accommodation there. All three winners are 1800+ rated players, and at least one of them - orlowski - is an active tournament player, who had recently finished fourth at the WSOB events in Cannes and Prague, and was the runner up at the WBA French Open consolation.

The 1st Cyprus Backgammon Open is organized by the World Backgammon Association, one of the leading governing bodies of the game, as a replacement for the City of Venice International Backgammon Tournament that closed its shop last year, after about 20 years of activity. Cyprus Backgammon Open is the fourth stop in the European Backgammon Tour 2009, preceded by the Portuguese Open, Georgian Open and the French Open and to be followed by at least one more stop, yet in an unknown location and date.

The Cyprus Open tournament will be divided to two divisions, Masters and Intermediate, with every division consists of consolation and last chance events. The winners of each event will get a set share of the prize pool (including the €5000 added money) and the Masters champion will be granted free entry to the next EBGT event. On top of the main tournaments, the Cyprus tournament will include several side events such as a Sassan-Gammon challenge (a backgammon variation played with 3 dice instead of 2) and jackpots for various amounts.

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