Backgammon, The Training Wheels of Chess!

I can't think of a subtitle to that masterpiece

Published on March 18, 2004 By Phantom of the Night In PC Gaming

I've decided to even out the posts by making a small post to level out with my Floyd concert review.

Ever since I discovered Backgammon on my new cell phone, I have been in love with the game. I consider it the step down from chess, because it seems to be one of those "civilized" games that old people always play. It does involve some strategy, but the game involves dice, so naturally, it is mostly based on Lady Luck. Every time I'm on the subway and I don't have anything to read, I play backgammon. If I have nothing to do on the computer, I'll play backgammon on Yahoo! Games. I used to play chess on yahoo, but I suck now. At one point of my life, after watching "Searching For Bobby Fischer," I started going to the Chess after-school program, which in nerd-like fashion, was held on Friday. After 2 years, I had beaten everyone in the club, won the Intermediate division title at my school (I only had to beat 2 people), and had actually tied my chess instructor. I wasn't the best player there. There was one kid, who actually beat the instructor, but I found out I was a more feared opponent because I liked to randomly move pieces. Right after I tied my teacher, I went pro. I started going to tournaments at the Primrose Hotel, where their choice of colours could use a hippy touch. I played in about 20 tournaments, and played kids from all ethnicities and all ages. I'll never forget the day I lost to a 6 year old Russian girl. I was 11 at this point and was devastated, but soon relieved when I found out she won the entire tournament. There's no shame in being beaten by the best. I won one tournament, and just like Josh Waitzkin, I made some great friends, who I've now forgotten. Ohhhh. I just had a creepy case of Deja-Life Imitating Art. I just realized why the annoying kid from across the street always seems so familiar. If he had blond hair, he'd be a look-alike, to go along with his almost perfect voice, for Josh's friend Morgan. Ya know, that annoying kid from "Indian in the Cupboard." Oh that's creepy. I need to go to bed.

Comments

crimson

on Mar 18, 2004

I'm not even going to give you the exact tally, but I went to my ISP site to track down how many hours online I've accumulated. Add in the hours that I use the net for school and at my parents' house and you've got some serious numbers.

However, prior to getting internet service at home, I was the Backgammon Champion on my computer. I had three different versions of the game all at varying levels. The amount of time spent at playing the game was comparable to my online hours.
I am disappointed never to have taken part in a tournament with real players though. I don't think they have it in my town. Nerd-like? I don't know. Maybe there's just not enough good players to even bother setting up one, here.

Phantom of the Night

on Mar 18, 2004

Thanks to blogging, I've cut back on alot of my backgammon playing, but I still play it on my cell phone on the subway. The only problem is that I can anticipate every move the AI on my phone will make. I need to play some random humans.

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