The answer to last week’s backgammon quiz, the one asking about a TV series in which the game of backgammon is taught, is obviously "Lost".

Backgammon starred in the critically acclaimed TV series from its first episodes. On the second part of the pilot, John Locke (played by Terry O’Quinn) reveals the mystery of the game to young Walt Lloyd (played by Malcolm David Kelley) by telling him about the winding history of the game, and instructs him on how to play the game, using the metaphoric piece of poetry: "Two players. Two sides. One is light, one is dark."

As the series continues, it turns out that Locke’s efforts weren’t for nothing. Walt starts playing backgammon with Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia), and even scrapping a sum of $83,000 from him. Is that why the series is called lost?

The lucky Lost viewer who knew the right answer is a new Play65 member of Ankara, Turkey, who has just earned $20 bonus. To answer Play65 17th backgammon quiz, having a photographic memory or a collection of backgammon magazines would be an advantage. On which of magazine’s cover Tina Turner was photographed with a backgammon board?

In his Card Player blog, Gus Hansen, the Danish backgammon and poker superstar, writes about his experiences as a participant – and not just a participant, a finalist! – at the World Series of Backgammon final stop the Riviera Cup, and a presenter at the WSOB final (which, as you recall, included 3 Play65 qualifiers). And that’s what he had to say: 

From WSOP to WSOB

Gus arrived to the WSOB Riviera Cup in Cannes, the French Riviera, straight from the WSOP (World Series of Poker) in Las Vegas, where he experienced "disappointing exit from the Main Event". It seems like Mr. Hansen put all his hopes in the WSOP, while playing backgammon at the WSOB was plain fun. Or in other words, his words: "I have a lot of fun playing in the events, and this time I was suddenly getting somewhere. After a couple of days of match play I found myself in the final of the event up against Bob Koca from the US." Despite being a favorite the entire final match, Gus stayed behind the entire game. Eventually, Koca won in a Double Match Point and earned his seat at the WSOB championship, in which Gus Hansen served as a kibitzer, for the enjoyment of the fascinated spectators.

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."

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:

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.

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.

More questions? Watch Play65 Bonus Slideshow to clear things out.
 

*Don’t forget to fill in the bonus code Blitz2030

** Play65 $30 bonus can be claimed only once, on new players’ first deposit

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.

(And if you don’t know the answer, learning how to say backgammon in different languages can get you closer to the desired 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?