real life backgammon

[burper]

So, what is your personal (physical) backgammon set like? Because I play only on FIBS, the only set I have is the cheapo portable one I haven't used since college, oh so many years ago. If you put your nose hear it and inhaled deeply...

Who plays in real life, how often and where? If lacking in local backgammon life, has anyone succesfully started up a scene? Not that I have time, but I wonder if I hung out on a Sunday morning in a local coffee shop with my board if I would get any takers. Probably I would need to invite a friend or two, but I know no backgammon players IRL.

[Bondy]

There's only one player I ever play against in real life.  My set is pretty crappy and missing 2 of the white checkers, so we usually play on a computer for 50 cent stakes.  I'm not great and he's worse, but it's fun enough (except this morning, when I lost $6 to him in 4 games).  I wouldn't mind heading into a cafe with a board, but I don't have a board that wouldn't get laughed at, and I don't know any good cafes

Let me know how it works out for you!

[diane]

I now have 4 sets - my first was a travel magnetic set -it did me well for the ten games or so i played in the first 10 years i owned it! Recently though i had to replace one of the counters with a red button, after losing one in a hotel in London ) - although it works just as well, i felt a bit embarrased wandering into a tourney with that - so got a passable set from madmikemonk - together with a set of David Naylor precision dice - and that does me for tourney playing (all 3 so far).  The next was a games combination - suitable for carrying around in any bag - so if someone wants some tips/hints or a quick explanation - i can use that.  I treat myself to a novelty one last weekend - it has a small bag for pips/dice etc - and the board is printed on a t-shirt!! not quite sure when i will get to using that one, but it is cute - so i had to have it!! (oops forgot the other cheapo one i bought to have at work - for the people who want to see if they can beat me )  So a little collection blossoming there - the next i want has to be a leather affair - may not be able to get a brand new David Naylor one - but am scanning ebay for any bargains!!)

The Reformed Fox is a great place to play here - with Paul Lamford there most weeks - the standard is very high - and a great atmosphere of sharing knowledge).

I have heard of a few others - but havent got to them yet - still feel a bit raw to be going betting the shirt off my back!!

Madmikes tourneys are another great place to play - and he seems to hold three or four a year - the one in Novemeber last year, i payed a not insignificant amount of money to go and have my ass soundly kicked!!  Fared better at the one this weekend - did I mention my medal???

Playing on a board is very different from online - and you really need to do it - all those little extra hassles you dont get with a computer - setting up, reading the dice wrong (nothing like gleefully moving a dbl6 to have your opponent point out it was actually 6,4) - and cocked dice are a few pitfalls i have seen from even the best players.  In Nov - the head of the IBA set our board up wrong!! - and of course - as the novice i didnt notice until we were into the game - and suddenly the move i wanted to make wasnt there!!
I hassle just about everyone to play - freinds, colleagues etc - not very challenging gamewise - but just gives me practice with the board!

[alef]

I love playing backgammon on a real board. But the sheer convenience of turning on a computer and clicking away keeps me from making more efforts to attend the various events in the UK. Also, it is quite boring having to actually count your pips! Someday I'll have to play at Monte Carlo though...

[webrunner]

I've been playing BG since i was 9 years old. Even entered the dutch youth championships one (and lost in the first round  :angry: ).

My father and mother where active members of the Dutch Backgammon community and they arranged this big international tourney in Amsterdam what was sponsored by Philip Morris.

There where custom boards made especially for this event and i have got two of them left.
They are old and need repairring now but when i am done i will post a picture of them here online.

[Feklhr]

Burper has inspired me to lure another into the world of backgammon. My walking partner and I went to a local coffee house and played in person with my old briefcase-like board. It is an unassuming little felt job with plastic pips, but it does the job. I gammoned her twice, but she'll probably be kicking my butt in no time. I created an account for her on FIBS, so if you'all see AnabelBlue, treat her with all the respect she's due for putting up with me in person.

[lewscannon]

I've got a couple of boards. One is strictly for the beach. If I open it anywhere else, the sand falls all over the place. One I got in lieu of a bg debt. It's kind of like keeping the panties of deflowered virgins.

[socksey]

Way back when I first learned to play backgammon, and, no, I won't tell you when that was!  I was visiting a friend in Abilene, TX and I spied a wonderful little shop that had all kinds of backgammon sets displayed in it's front window.  I bought two sets that day.  One was a leather-like and velvet case in maroon shades.  It was beautiful.  I gave that one to my son, who, much later, lost it to a girlfriend who stole it from him.  The other case was of leather-like brown vinyl, wool of brown and beige, and brass.  This one, also, was passed on to my son and is still in use.  The one I use is a cheapy case set I bought, but is still in perfect shape and looks nice.  It is brown and tan leather-like.  

The internet has taken over most of my bg play as, like alef said about counting  pips, not to mention, the time it takes to set a board up, and never a problem finding someone to play!  heheeheheee

socksey




Men have a gene that makes socks on the floor invisible.  Women can see socks on the floor through walls. - JBD--Normal, IL

[PortWine]

I have a really nice board made out of wood that stores everything underneath.  I tis kept out on my coffee table in the living room so I can lure unsuspecting people into playing BG.  "Soooo, you've never played backgammon.  You know you really have to play for money to make it interesting......"

I also have a couple of those suit case jobbies that can go outside, etc.

My wife used to play BG with me but she says its no fun anymore playing against a person who has played over 4000 games in the last year.

I think about going into NYC to try to find a game or two every once in a while, but I find I have to get used to not having a pip counter and actually figuring out where my rolls can go.  Playing on a computer does give you some bad habits.

And of course there is the important matter of getting to where I want to play and getting into my usual inebriated state.  Not many backgammon bars.

PW  

[diane]

My wife used to play BG with me but she says its no fun anymore playing against a person who has played over 4000 games in the last year.

But...does she know HOW you play?

[PortWine]

Yes, she does know how to play but is not "nutty" about it.  Her style is still pretty much a running game, which is how we both played in the "early years".

She also refuses to let me refer to any bedroom activity as "cubeing".

[diane]

Erm - i kinda meant 4000 games the way you play em aint all that intimidating    

[PortWine]

<don voice> Diane, I thought you wanted to have a serious discussion about my board.  My mistake.

[resh_lakish]

hi diane

I started playing on fibs at least 6 years ago. At that time I was an Ultra-Orthodox Jew struggling with bouts of psychosis. The first thing I did when I got online was to find a place to play poker online. The only thing going at the time that was any good was irc.poker.net. There I met and played against Patti and she told me about fibs. I wasn't serious at all about backgammon but even then found fibs shouts very interesting.

I was offline for approximately a year during a very severe bout of psychosis. When I finally left the psychiatric hospital the first thing I did was log on to fibs. However, the only time I could log on was during the evening after 10 PM due to the cost involved (dial-up per hour cost PLUS phone). Therefore, I went to Ben Yehudah Street in Jerusalem and got a sturdy wooden set with plastic checkers. I eventually gave that set to my nephews and nieces.

In the psychiatric hospital backgammon was quite popular. However, cheating was a constant problem. I did learn and kibitz the other versions of the game (i think fibs should support and develop these variants). Further, we were constantly losing dice. Being that I was the most highly functioning patient who had the right to leave the ward I would go to the toy store once a week and buy dice.

In Israel they call gammon "mouse" pronounced mouse not to mean mouse the rodent. I do not the origin of the word.

[spielberg]

I no longer have a "real" backgammon board as my last one was pinched when I was working in the city in the early 90s.

(thats the UK equivalent of wall street all you 'mericans)

Fibs encourages LOTS of play and has many skilled players but I just like the rattle of the dice in the cup. Oh and the ability to use "tells" from your opponent - I remember playing one chap at the double 5 club and gleefuly realising that every time I had a cube out pos ( or what he thought was a drop - and he was a much better player than me) he'd light (another) cigarette. He couldn't work out how I was beating him!

[diane]

That kind of highlights one problem i have with real matches - I have this annoying tendency to stare at the move i dont want my oppponent to make  

Working on it though - and intend to have it fixed by late august - so no use looking out for it at the london gathering    

[audioslave]

I've got this travel set I've never actually used, cos it's too fiddly!

Playing live, I'm usually round a mate's house who has a beautiful inlaid board.  Well it was beautiful until she mistook her drink for her dice shaker...

[DelGato]

Friends, countrymen, people who hate Webrunner, lend me your ears; I come to bury Webrunner, not to praise him. Wait! Before you dismiss me as loud, hear me out. This is not to say that his litanies have reached a depth of degeneracy that was virtually unknown in the past. It is merely to point out that in a tacit concession of defeat, he is now openly calling for the abridgment of various freedoms to accomplish coercively what his soporific doctrines have failed at.

Better, far better, that Man were without the gift of speech than that he use it as Webrunner does. Better that Man could neither read nor write than have his head and heart perverted by the simple-minded and uncompromising tommyrot that oozes from Webrunner's pen. And better that the cut of Man's coat and the number of his buttons were fixed by statute and enforced by penalties than that Webrunner should take credit for others' accomplishments. None but the self-serving can deny that his emissaries argue that he should show a clear lack of respect not just for those brave souls who fought and died for what they believed in, but also for you, the readers of this letter, because "it's the right thing to do". These are the same indelicate meatheads who gag free speech. This is no coincidence; my purpose here is not to allay the concerns of the many people who have been harmed by Webrunner. Well, okay, it is. But I should point out that I can reword my point as follows. It must be nice to live in Webrunner's little world, where the sun shines, the birds chirp merrily, and reality never rears its ugly head.

What this underlines, I think, is that most people want to be nice; they want to be polite; they don't want to give offense. And because of this inherent politeness, they step aside and let Webrunner help worthless fugitives evade capture by the authorities. He has only one goal: to write off whole sections of society. It's his belief that my letters demonstrate a desire to turn me, a typically mild-mannered person, into a hostile vat of isolationism. I can't understand how anyone could go from anything I ever wrote to such a reckless idea. In fact, my letters generally make the diametrically opposite claim, that I cannot believe how many actual, physical, breathing, thinking people have fallen for Webrunner's subterfuge. I'm entirely stunned. What we have been imparting to Webrunner -- or what he has been eliciting from us -- is a half-submerged, barely intended logic, contaminated by wishes and tendencies we prefer not to acknowledge. I have a dream that my children will be able to live in a world filled with open spaces and beautiful wilderness -- not in a dark, two-faced world run by phlegmatic, shallow social outcasts. In keeping with all of their inner gormless brutality, Webrunner's co-conspirators challenge all I stand for.

Webrunner talks loudly about family values and personal responsibility, but when it comes to backing up those words with actions, all he does is tear down everything that can possibly be regarded as a support of cultural elevation. This raises the question: How can he be so unbridled? Before you answer, let me point out that his fibs all stem from one, simple, faulty premise -- that those of us who oppose him would rather run than fight. I wouldn't even mention that under the guise of stimulating debate and illuminating diverse perspectives, his analects actually separate people from their roots and cut their bonds to their natural communities if it weren't true. If I may be permitted to make an observation, when a friend wants to drive inebriated, you try to stop him. Well, Webrunner is drunk with power, which is why we must lend support to the thesis that I find him the most sinful person in the world.

Perhaps he has never had to take a stand and fight for something as critical as our right to reveal the nature and activity of his intimates and expose their inner contexts as well as their ultimate final aims. But documents written by his peons typically include the line, "Webrunner understands the difference between civilization and savagery", in large, 30-point type, as if the size of the font gives weight to the words. In reality, all that that fancy formatting really does is underscore the fact that Webrunner doesn't use words for communication or for exchanging information. He uses them to disarm, to hypnotize, to mislead, and to deceive. His jokes sound so noble, but in fact, if he feels ridiculed by all the attention my letters are bringing him, then that's just too darn bad. Webrunner's arrogance has brought this upon himself.

By toning down his cajoleries, many more people are exposed to Webrunner's pusillanimous message, convinced by his passion, and seduced by his simplistic answers to complex social problems. Though gutless terrorism is not discussed in this letter, much of what I've written applies to that, as well. Because of Webrunner's outbursts, our schools simply do not teach the basics anymore. Instead, they preach the theology of ruthless diabolism. What's interesting is that an armed revolt against Webrunner is morally justified. However, I insist that it is not yet strategically justified. When I was a child, my clergyman told me, "Webrunner uses a rather ophidian definition of 'semiprofessionalized'." If you think about it, you'll see his point.

His trained seals actually believe the bunkum they're always mouthing. That's because these classes of prurient nymphomaniacs are idealistic, have no sense of history or human nature, and they think that what they're doing will improve the world by the next full moon. In reality, of course, Webrunner has warned us that in a matter of days, blathering chuckleheads will give rise to the most damnable shirkers I've ever seen. If you think about it, you'll realize that Webrunner's warning is a self-fulfilling prophecy in the sense that you, of course, now need some hard evidence that I don't think it would be unfair to say that Webrunner's provocateurs fail to recognize that some deep void within Webrunner makes it necessary for him to make individuals indifferent to the survival of their families. Well, how about this for evidence: If Webrunner succeeds in his attempt to encourage individuals to disregard other people, to become fully self-absorbed, it'll have to be over my dead body. My vision is built on the future, not the past. We can therefore extrapolate that I'm sure Webrunner wouldn't want me to eavesdrop on his conversations. So why does he want to cause the destruction of human ambition and joy? To turn that question around, why does he always have to be such a party pooper? It is bootless to speculate on the matter, but it should be noted that if I recall correctly, Webrunner yields to the mammalian desire to assert individuality by attracting attention. Unfortunately, for Webrunner, "attract attention" usually implies "brand me as yawping". Society has paid a dear price for letting Webrunner divert attention from his unprovoked aggression. The denial of this fact only proves the effrontery, and also the stupidity, of quasi-iconoclastic individuals.

He acts as if he were King of the World. This hauteur is astonishing, staggering, and mind-boggling. If you look soberly and carefully at the evidence all around you, you will unquestionably find that his perspective is that everything is happy and fine and good. My perspective, in contrast, is that the world has a surplus of stupidity. Let me recap that for you, because it really is extraordinarily important: If Webrunner thinks his tracts represent progress, he should rethink his definition of progress. Although we can occasionally tie the retailers of pestilential new claims to older fabrications, there is unfortunately no shortage of new rumor.

What do you think of this: Webrunner should know better than to tap into the national resurgence of overt nativism? Is he a pious person? Yes, although Webrunner's "piety" unerringly leads him to whichever dogma is best for business. Speaking of which, if one could get a Ph.D. in Irreligionism, he would be the first in line to have one.

I thought it couldn't be done, but, once again, his attitudes have sunk to a new low. I must part company with many of my peers when it comes to understanding why Webrunner clings to imperialism like a drowning man clings to a life preserver. My peers think that Webrunner is known for fabricating evidence. While this is decidedly true, I contend we must add that Webrunner's encomiasts believe that honesty and responsibility have no cash value and are therefore worthless. Although it is perhaps impossible to change the perspective of those who have such beliefs, I wish nevertheless to fight scurrility and slander. His demands may not be traditional for all stinking, self-absorbed ochlocrats, but life isn't fair. We've all known this since the beginning of time, so why is he so compelled to complain about situations over which he has no control? Well, we all know the answer to that question, don't we? But in case you don't, then you should note that the pen is a powerful tool. Why don't we use that tool to empower the oppressed to control their own lives? In closing, all that I ask is that you join me to stop Webrunner and fight tooth and nail against Webrunner.

[webrunner]

Soooo sad...

I am gonna leave all this here just to show people how sad you really are ...

Thanks for making my point!

[snowflakes]

I was offline for approximately a year during a very severe bout of psychosis. When I finally left the psychiatric hospital the first thing I did was log on to fibs.

hmmmm  who would have ever thunk it???  yet you seem so stable resh