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A Proposal to Start the US Backgammon Federation

Posted By: Martin Veltmann
Date: Wednesday, 7 October 2009, at 11:31 p.m.

In Response To: A Proposal to Start the US Backgammon Federation (Phil Simborg)

I think that a federation is an excellent idea. I would support it although I am in Canada.

Chess and bridge have federations and they seem to work reasonably well (I used to be a chess player). An important difference is that chess and bridge are much more popular and have thousands of players to draw support and annual fees.

I am not sure how many players can be drawn into a BG federation but I would guess a few hundred at best. At 20 bucks a head it will hard to support a fully fledged organization unless of course people are willing to work for free or low compensation. Therefore I would suggest charging a bit more - say 60-80 bucks a year.

Try to publish a BG periodical, national rating list, etc and keep goals modest at the start. Internet publication is probably best but its still nice to get those glossy pictures in the mail.

A few blogs ago I read interesting suggestions regarding promotion and expansion of the game. Let me say that scholastic promotion will not work in my opinion. Too much gambling stigma associated with BG.

BG had a large explosion in players about 30 years (late 70's and early 80's). Why did this happen? I am not really sure but I have a thesis. The explosion in BG years ago in part happened becuase of an explosion in chess. Yes chess. After Bobby Fischer won the World championship in 1972 tens of thousands of new players came into chess. After afew years players got bored and starting playing some BG. Maybe 1-2% only but it was from a large pool. Magriel robertie etc all came from chess.

Anyways, in order to promote BG I think we need to use the same piggyback idea and use Poker. Advertise and promote in Poker magazines and poker circles. I think this is the best shot to get a memebership up in the "thousands".

Finally I think a national rating system is relatively important. It stimulates competetion. Chess players almost live and die according to their rating (at least when they are young!!!). Give it a try.

Best Regards Martin Veltmann

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