Who is a better backgammon player – Obama or Ahmadinejad?

No answer to that, but American players have won in 56% of the online backgammon games held against players from Iran on Play65 platform in the past three years. But when the Americans face their old iron curtain rivals, the Russians, they lose in 53% of the games.

But Play65 biggest winners are the Turks who triumphed in more than 220,000 games held in the last three month of 2009. They are followed by the Israelis with a record of almost 180,000 wins in three months. The German players are the third big winners with less than 125,000, who are followed closely by the Americans with almost 123,000 winning games. The top five list is closed by the Russians with an average of 32,000 wins a month. Surprisingly, the nation with the biggest percentage of wins (as opposed to biggest number of wins) is China. In the meantime, this success did not found expression in live backgammon tournaments.

(More statistics on Play65 backgammon war zone, in Hebrew)

Valentine Supplements

Play65 Valentine tournament, held last weekend, was not the first time backgammon was linked to love (or the other way around). Backgammon boards, especially the more costly ones, are traditionally recommended as a Valentine’s Day gift for him, and playing backgammon is a commonly advised Valentines date idea.

If you can’t imagine anything romantic or passionate about backgammon, the following excerpts would probably convince you:

"Love is a serious play. So is Backgammon, a fascinating game of chance and challenging contest of strategy. Love is passionate. Play Backgammon and experience together an exciting duel, engaging both heart and mind. Love is tender and sensuality. "

(from Ghiso blog)

The roll of the dice makes the heart beat faster,

The wrong move now can lead to disaster,

For the love that you pledged is caught in a trance

And the pieces move swiftly as if in dance.

The rhythm of love paints music on the soul,

The blessings of passion await you in your goal…"

(from A Valentine’s Message for Backgammon Lovers by Myron Edwards, originally published on American Chronicle for 2007 Valentine’s Day)

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.

Backgammon is the subject of a new series of works by New Yorker photographer Douglas Ljungkvist. He is not interested in documenting the backgammon match itself, thus in his photos you will not see the current position of the game, not the two players facing each other and nor the group of spectators surrounding them.

Typical backgammon photo from 2009 Monte Carlo championship

What you will get is a close look at the formal elements that assemble the backgammon game, tangible sense of the board’s material; nuanced glance at the players’ hands, as they roll the dice, move the checkers or record the score, and the appearance of the playing surface at the end of the game. 

backgammon photo by Douglas Ljungkvist© (as all the photos below)

 How do backgammon players stack the checkers while bearing off?

"Photographing a backgammon match per se is visually not very interesting." Ljungkvist told Play65 blog. "Backgammon does, however, offer color combinations, texture and variety of surface materials. I am also interested in studying how a board looks after a match is over. How do people stack the checkers while bearing off? Sometimes chaotic patterns are created by hands at the end of a match by a player expressing his disgust at losing. The result is like the calm after the storm. Who is left standing, how and where?"

 Eric Steiner’s old beat up backgammon board

Although Ljungkvist’s endeavors in backgammon photography are still at the beginning, his backgammon connection goes back to his childhood, through the vivacious Stockholm scene of the 1980s, and includes winning the Swedish Team Championships and a special heritage backgammon board.

"I started playing backgammon around the age of nine thanks to Swedish poker/backgammon player and gambling legend, Eric Steiner", he recalls, "We visited Marbella, Spain from Sweden often and became friends with Eric, staying at Eric’s beach house on a vacation. At night, Eric would go out to play high stakes money games with rich but not so good players in the upscale Puerto Banus marina. I remember vividly that Eric’s favorite opening move was a 6-1." 

Swedish backgammon days

"In Stockholm my interest in backgammon grew and I attended tournaments regularly and played in a weekly league with ten teams each in two divisions. Though I would play the Swedish Open and some other tournaments around Scandinavia, I was never a star player. I was on the team that won the Swedish Team Championships that, the weakest among formidable players like Robert Lindbom, Johan Moazed, and Ulf Ring. My biggest contribution to the team was probably when I clinched the deciding semi-final and final matches to claim the championships in the late 80’s. The legendary two time World Champion Jorgen Granstedt was on the very first league team that I played on. 

Backgammon and Ping Pong

Ljungkvist interest in backgammon started fading upon his move to New York in 1990, and came alive again in recent times, while working on his ping pong project, "partly a formalist still life study of space, design, color, space, and form. I realized there were certain visual similarities between backgammon and ping pong that interested me, the limited boarded playing surfaces, colors, space, and shapes; the rectangular board, triangular pips, round checkers, and square dice." 

"The backgammon board does not have enough scale to make the venue or combination of the board and its environment interesting in the same way a ping pong table can do in the urban landscape or in an interesting inside venue. Backgammon offers more color combinations, texture, and variety of surface materials compared to ping pong."

Backgammon future plans and alternative rule

"Once I complete my ping pong project I hope to find more time to photograph backgammon, both on locations where people gather and play, as well as creating conceptual scenes in my studio. I might explore some tightly composed player portraits during matches representing various states of emotion; the poker face, disappointment, exhilaration, disgust, fear, intimidation, counting, analyzing, and more." 

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.

Backgammon Championship on C64 is one of the oldest ancestors of Play65 online backgammon. Not yet in the real-time, multi-player sense, still a primary alternative to live backgammon.

Find the differences:

Another Online Backgammon Advantage

You might not know, but when playing backgammon on Play65, you can cancel your last movement by pressing Ctrl + Z on your keyboard.

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.

• Backgammon gift ideas for Christmas 2010

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

Play65 Team is currently topping the elite division of the Danish Backgammon League, one of the strongest backgammon leagues in the world and the habitat of many world champions. The Play65 Team have outplayed the very strong Nemo team, consists of backgammon champions such as Mads Andersen, Morten Lassen, Katja Spillum and random guests like Bob Wachtel and Gustav Hansen.

The Play65 Team, also known as the Mama Boyz, were gathered about two years ago, consists of Steen Grønbech, Karsten Bredahl, Michael K. Larsen and others, and it has been representing our online backgammon room in several local and international tournaments including the two recent Nordic Open events, and in one of them even won two team events.

Backgammon Kingdom of Denmark 

The Danish Backgammon Federation is one of the most well-organized and devoted backgammon associations worldwide. Its established leagues system is probably the main reasons for the plenitude of Dane players in backgammon tournaments. The DBgF, started out in 1987 as a small backgammon club in Copenhagen, now has more than 100 branches in the small Nordic country, many of them holding weekly tournaments on top of special annual events.

The Danish Backgammon Federation leagues system includes three hierarchical regional divisions and one elite division, with 12 teams of 8-16 players each. Every team gets to play against all other teams in its division twice a year. The winning teams climb up the ladder and the less successful ones drop to a lower division.