Below is a story of my latest tournament. And for those of you who know me, when you hear the word "tournament" you immediately think of chess, right">(5) There were no kids! None! The average age in the room was probably 40+! Maybe more! I also don't believe there were any teenagers! In fact, if you were in your 20s I suspect you were in the minority! The Senior's Tournament, which started Wednesday, had more than 120 entrants. (Actually, now that I think about it, that number doesn't mean anything. With an low entry fee of $60, many of these entrants were certainly re-buys.)

I'm not sure this "lack of young people" is ideal because this means when all of these old people are too old to play, backgammon tournament attendance might dwindle down to nothing.

Those are the major differences I noticed. I suspect there are a few others. But anyone accustomed to chess tourneys would probably fit right in at a backgammon tourney. I know I did.

Prize Fund

Alas, the glory days of backgammon are long gone. If you didn't know or don't , backgammon was VERY big in '70s. Everybody seemed to be playing, stores sold out their backgammon sets as soon as they arrived, many backgammon books were published, clubs and tourneys were springing up all over the country, etc.

In 1978, for example, 652 players played in a tourney in Las Vegas and the amateur prize for the winner was $180,000.00! Wow! The year after, with a slightly restructured event, drawing now 700+ players, the amateur winner took home $130,000.00! Amazing!

Alas, that type of a turnout and thus those types of prizes in backgammon are most likely a thing of the past. Here are the prizes for this event, which were based upon the number of entries:

Championship (128 players, 35 of which were re-entries)
Main Flight: $14,920, $7,460 $3,730 $3,730
Consolation: $7,460 $3,730 $1,865 $1,865
Last Chance: $3,330, $1,640

Intermediate (100 players 27 of which were re-entries)
Main Flight: $4,195, $2,095, $1,050, $1,050
Consolation: $2,095, $1,050, $525, $525
Last Chance: $935, $460

Other Side Events
Super Jackpot: $15,200, $7,600, $3,600, $3,600
Limited Jackpot: $7,200, $3,600, $1,800, $1,800
Seniors: $3,260, $1,630, $815, $815

There were many other prizes and many other events too. (Beginner's Jackpot, After-Tournament Tournament, Blitz, Mini-Matches, etc.)

Some of the matches were being streamed live. More than once after my matches were over and I arrived back to my hotel room, I was able to watch a couple of the games live, using my laptop.

Wednesday evening therewas a re-match between Phil Simborg, a famous backgammon teacher, and Masayuki Mochizuki (Mochy), a former World Champion. Mochy believed, since his error rate was so much lower than Phil's, that he could spot Phil the cube every game and still be a favorite. This was the premise for their initial match. They played once before, a year ago or so, and Mochy won. I've watched the YouTube video of that match, a couple of times. The video is accompanied with live, entertaining commentary by a backgammon expert by the name of Falafel. Wednesday night was the rematch and I watched it live, again with Falafel commentating on the game. Mochy won again. He's phenomenal. I said hello to him on Thursday, and thanked him for all of his instructional videos and for making himself available to play others online, and for being a good "ambassador" to the game. He asked me my name and I told him. He recognized it! He said he's seen some of my YouTube comments to some of these videos!

Several of the authors of some of the backgammon books I have were there, competing, including Bill Robertie. It was fun to see them in person.

Anyway, I won my very first match on Thursday, 11 to 2! Talk about a rush! My opponent was from back East, who was wearing a Minnesota Vikings jersey, although he said he wasn't a Vikings fan. The shirt was a gift, he said. (Really">So anyway, that's my little backgammon tournament adventure. Now, when it comes to the game of backgammon, I can also say I'm a tournament player! Ha ha! There are two large tourneys in Vegas every year, so I guess I will need to start planning my vacations on the weeks these tourneys are held. Already looking forward to the next one.