Creating an Online Backgammon Village
BACKGAMMON > Page 1, 2, 3What makes backgammon such a fascinating game for you?
The game is so intriguing. Some people think it's a matter of luck because dice are involved. However, in the long run skill dominates over luck. Backgammon is knowing how to position your stones and evaluate risks. After many games you develop a visual ability to decide your best move for a given roll. It is the challenge of facing these positions and their outcome that makes the game so thrilling. Of course, a little luck on the dice is an added delight.
When and why did you decide to start GammonVillage?
GammonVillage launched December 10, 1999. It is a free online backgammon magazine and community website made available to by a small group of backgammon aficionados that live in Toronto, Canada. I was hired as Editor due to my past experience working with the press and because I had many backgammon contacts on the Internet.
Questions or comments about backgammon? Post them on the Board Games Forum. Also, be sure to see How to Set Up a Backgammon Board, How to Use a Backgammon Doubling Cube, and the complete collection of Backgammon Board Games Subjects. |
We made GammonVillage interactive. Our members have four different Forums where they can post their opinions on a variety of topics. We have a worldwide list of live backgammon clubs that is growing rapidly. Club directors submit their information right onto our site. Each one is provided with their own page to display their meeting place and schedule, dates of their regional tournaments, number of members, contact information and more. With their username and password they may then come back at anytime to update their data.
Our readers also have the ability to submit an article right at the site and are provided with a graphical board-making program, Board'O'Matic, that allows them to illustrate their articles with board positions. Other interactive features include a chatroom, a section where they can rank any of the 18 backgammon servers we list and they can also vote in backgammon polls and view the results.
What are some your favourite parts of Gammon Village?
I really enjoy posting position problems in the Strategy Forum. I might be a good player but every once in a while playing on the Net, I come across a situation where I am just not sure of the best play. I save these positions and later use the Board'O'Matic program to post them in the forum and then wait for other players to share their views on the best play. Many of our readers do the same. We share our views.
Often someone will post what the program Snowie suggests. Snowie is phenomenal backgammon software by Oasya of Switzerland. It has been developed through neural networks. You can also play against it. At its highest settings, it is considered to be as good as or better than a world-class expert.
The interviews with the backgammon celebrities are another favourite. Some of the articles written by our contributors are extremely amusing. The Tutorial section is a great learning experience and we were recently honoured by the participation of world renowned backgammon analyst Kit Woolsey, also editor of his own online backgammon magazine called GammOnLine, an excellent publication.
What are some of the most popular among your visitors?
My readers have told me that they benefit from the knowledge and opinions in the articles and tutorials. They get a chuckle from the antics of backgammon comedian Phil Simborg. The interviews are very popular, too, because they can see a photo of a backgammon celebrity and know more about his personal life, thoughts and opinions whereas before it was just a name they heard somewhere.
How many people in the U.S. do you estimate play backgammon? How about worldwide?
That's a tough question. I can only take wild guesses. I am sure that that at least five to 10 percent of the population has played at sometime in their lives, but I would imagine that less than 1 percent play regularly. As for the world, even more difficult. There could be a country here and there with less than 1,000 players, perhaps less than 100 players in some cases. However, backgammon is very popular in Europe and you might find that in Greece, Turkey and the Middle East well over 30 percent of the populations plays regularly. I could be way off on all this.
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