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BGonline.org Forums
What can we learn from backgammon's popularity in Denmark?
Posted By: Henrik Bukkjaer In Response To: What can we learn from backgammon's popularity in Denmark? (Patrick De Wilde)
Date: Friday, 3 December 2010, at 10:06 a.m.
No doubt that the country-wide café tournament (originally sponsored by Carlsberg) was instrumental in recruiting members in the early days of the DBgF. And no doubt that the well run rating and result service has been very important.
But I'd mention one thing that I believe to be even more important: The team league.
This is the flagship tournament which really carries the DBgF. It's the tournament where we get to play a lot of long matches (22 x 4 17-pointers in the regular season per team). And even more important, that tournament adds a social element to backgammon like no other tour. Some teams dine together before matches. Teams turn into clubs with multiple teams, and then they start getting a critical mass to host other events, run education sessions, etc. Put very simply: The team tournament give players a good reason to start improving each others game.
As Christian mentioned, we're not that many active players we used to be, and thus there are not so many teams that there used to be. But we still have 8 individual divisions in 4 layers - where the top 2 divisions are countrywide.
Each year the final 2 (or 4) rounds are played during a weekend in a central place, where all divisions and teams get together. The number of players here are approx. the same as when it peeks at the Nordic Open.
I'd rate this the number one reason for the success of Danish backgammon.
Best regards, Henrik
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