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BGonline.org Forums
Its time to think about major changes in tournament backgammon
Posted By: Phil Simborg
Date: Friday, 17 February 2017, at 4:06 p.m.
OK, I know that the second anyone makes any recommendation for change, he opens himself to massive criticism and personal attack. I must not love the game if I want to change it. What about tradition? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Tournament backgammon is great, and if I don't like it, don't come.
Okay, so I am ready to take the heat. Now to the point. Yes, tournament backgammon is great...very exciting and fun. I love it. I spend a lot of time and money every year going to tournaments all over the world. Does that mean we can't make the game better? Does that mean that now that we have the internet and streaming that we shouldn't be thinking of ways to make the game better for spectators and find ways to attract more people to the game we all love?
I hope that most logical and fair-minded people will agree with the above. Of course, there will be much disagreement on which ideas will really make the game better, more popular, more interesting, more fun, and more profitable for those running tournaments and for those who play.
Streaming is now a major outlet to reach the general public, along with the recording of matches and putting them on YouTube, and hopefully, some day we might make it to TV if we can do what poker did...make the game more interesting for the viewers.
It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that our streamed matches are boring as hell and of little interest to the general public or anyone who is not an experienced player. The matches are long, and it's hard to figure out what's really going on. It's hard as hell to read the dice. We know nothing about the two people playing each other--there is no "human interest" story at all. Sometimes the matches that are featured, because they are the finals or toward the end, don't even have the best players...the superstars of the game. And even when there is commentary, it doesn't really explain to the average player or interested viewer what is going on...there simply isn't time before the next roll and the commentators aren't gearing their comments for the public.
So obviously, the answer is to improve our streaming. Instead of making it live, record the session and stream it an hour or two later, with great commentary, and the ability to fast-forward to the exciting plays and cube decisions. Give a little background about each of the players...who they beat to get to the finals. Where they are from. Give the spectators a chance to develop heroes or root for their underdog. Give the commentators a chance to bring up XG and explain why Mochy dropped that cube, or why it is right to take such a big chance to hit. And when the players are playing exceptionally well, show that and build them up. (And when they are playing badly, be kind and don't get into their blunders too much or make them look bad.)
And to make the game more exciting for all, instead of 13 point or longer matches, play shorter matches....look what tennis does. Every 3rd or 4th point the game is on the line or it is deuce...there is tension and a series of climaxes. 5 and 7 point matches offer much more excitement than longer matches, and I maintain there is just as much or more skill in winning a best 3 out of 5 of 5 or 7 point matches than winning a 21 point match...there are more complicated cube and checker decisions.
For streamed matches, THERE IS NO EXCUSE to use dice when we have several electronic dice programs that have been proven to be fair, show the rolls very clearly for all to see, and even call out the numbers so you can hear the roll as well as see it. I know, change is tough, and we all like rolling the dice, but this is a clear improvement for the viewing audience.
We also need to seed tournaments. Why should Mochy travel halfway around the world and meet Michy in the first round? The best players deserve to be seeded and place appropriately, just as they do in Tennis and other sports, so that the better players are more likely to meet in the later rounds. They earned the right to be seeded and it is better for the game and for the spectators than to see top players knocking each other off in the early rounds.
Yes, I know that makes it even tougher for us lesser players to win, but there are other ways to encourage the rest of us to compete. There can be multiple-side-pools so that the stronger players are playing for more if they choose to enter more side pools, and the lesser players, who really do have less of a chance in our un-handicapped game, can enter for a lower price. Those who argue the reduces the pool for the better players are wrong...the pool will be much greater if we have more people playing. Right now, we have many low-open players and people who were forced out of the Advanced division who rarely play in tournaments because they have to pay so much money with so little chance to win. So make the entry fees lower and side pools higher, which is another way of allowing lesser players to play for less initial cost. (Of course, I have always maintained that paying more places and awarding more points to more places should also be done to make more people come away feeling good about the experience.)
How else can we make tournaments more interesting and exciting for the players and spectators? I have at least a dozen more ideas (not all my own of course) that could be considered, and I don't want to get into all of them now.
My goal is to shake people up a little, and get more people agreeing that we can and should do some things that will clearly make the game more popular and interesting. When enough people start talking and thinking about it, then there is a chance that change will happen. We all love this game, and we all love it just the way it is, but that doesn't mean it can't be better.
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