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BGonline.org Forums
Factors for Tournament Attendance 3
Posted By: Daniel Murphy In Response To: Factors for Tournament Attendance 3 (Stick)
Date: Wednesday, 7 October 2009, at 2:19 a.m.
Why is it so popular in Denmark?
So many reasons. By the way, Carlsberg hasn't sponsored DBgF for years.
That Denmark actually has a backgammon federation is one reason, but doesn't explain much. More leisure time and different choices of how to spend it. Different official and social attitudes towards gambling, drinking, bar- and cafe-going and game-playing. A penchant for organizing and participating in formal organizations for all kinds of social activities. All this and more might explain backgammon's popularity. But it's worth noting that backgammon --at least as measured by DBgF membership, or the number of bars in Copenhagen where you can find a weekly small stakes tournament - has declined dramatically in popularity compared to a few years ago.
There, when we -- a formally organized club for an officially recognized "mind sport" -- were looking for a place to hold club meetings and weekly tournaments in our small town, we found a "bodega" -- basically a bar that was a neighborhood gathering place where the drinking age was 18 and children with parents were not unwelcome before sundown. When our club needed a place to hold a regional/national weekend tournament, we used (rent-free) the cafeteria of the local elementary school. When we put on the national mixed doubles championship, we used (rent-free) a nice old harborside house owned by the local government. I think we even got a small subsidy from the town government when we wanted to buy a dozen chess clocks. In a nearby and larger town where many of us often went, at another bar that sponsored a backgammon club, backgammon was just a small part of the afternoon and evening scene, along with the pinball, the pool tables, the beer, and the espressso.
It's not because backgammon is popular with children. I don't think it is. Occasional attempts by the DBgF to find ways to promote backgammon among school-age people never developed into much. DBgF does sponsor an Under 18 championship, but it's not well-attended.
There are so many difference that I don't see that Danish backgammon has much to offer as a model for promoting backgammon in the U.S., except that the existence of a national U.S. organization sure couldn't hurt. It's a very different country.
And it's not just backgammon that's popular there -- in a Danish population of about 5.5 million, 25,000 Danes (1 in 220) belong to the Danish Bridge Federation, 4,675 (1 in 1176) to the Danish Chess Union, and (these days, only) 720 (1 in 7,638) belong to the Danish Backgammon Federation. If American membership in U.S. organizations were similarly high, there'd be 1,395,000 ACBL members, 261,000 USCF members, and 44,000 dues-paying backgammon players.
The actual U.S. membership numbers are about 160,000 in the ACBL, 80,000 in the USCF and, well, zero backgammon federation members.
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