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Breaking a match into smaller sets: Another advantages

Posted By: Phil Simborg
Date: Wednesday, 28 August 2013, at 12:18 a.m.

In Response To: Breaking a match into smaller sets: Another advantages (AP)

Let's not forget one of the major advantages of the shorter matches: it's more exciting...for the players and the spectators. Picture a tennis match where the first player to reach 100 wins. How boring is that!!! But they broke the match into sets and they broke the sets into game, and they broke the games down so that every 3 or 4 points there is a critical moment that puts the players under great pressure and keeps the fans at the edge of their seats.

If we want backgammon to grow, we need to make it more appealing to spectators, and shorter matches will do this. Who gives a hoot who wins the first 10 or so points in a 21 point match?

I used to argue that the shorter matches were more complex because you get to many different take points and gammon values, but Bob Koca and others make a valid argument that with so many crawfords the cube becomes even less complex. What could be more exciting than a 4 or 8 cube in an 11 point match, especially when the score is lopsided? The problem is, that doesn't happen often enough to compensate for the lack of excitement.

We all know what tournament backgammon needs more than anything else: sponsorship. Money added. And that will only happen when there are more players and spectators, and players and spectators are action junkies. If we want to grow, like it or not, we must appeal to the action junkies.

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