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Backgammon/Schools/Gambling

Posted By: Michael Petch
Date: Tuesday, 1 February 2011, at 6:14 a.m.

In Response To: Promoting backgammon - Grass Roots (Rich Munitz)

Thanks for the response Rich. At the end you said "I'm all for any approach that will grow the game. I think all of these angles are worth pursuing in parallel". I wanted to say I never was suggesting that it should be one or the other. My post was to bring to light that the social side of things should also be pursued. We agree here.

Regarding backgammon in schools. In the last few months (And I have told some WC players this in private correspondence) I have learned of resistance to even using Backgammon as to way of teaching certain math and statistic skills. I approached 2 math teachers who happened to work in the Catholic School system about Backgammon in teaching math and the response was pretty much identical "Using Backgammon in School would likely be seen as a promotion of gambling". They took no time to even think about it. One of them took out his trusty apple Mac, put backgammon into Google, went to the top article (wikipedia) scrolled down to the last third of the article, and said that's the problem. He pointed to the parts about Monte Carlo, and then section of gambling. He clicked on a few links in Wiki one of which was Play65 (LOL).

I couldn't argue because there are posts on R.G.B. by world class players that point out that even from the earliest versions (antiquity) - Backgammon is inherently a gambling game. Then of course the Doubling Cube didn't help.

All you need is one parent who is civil lawsuit happy and says "They are teaching gambling to my child in school!". At the College level - different story.

Poker clubs are not the norm in North America (at least). Some brave souls have ventured into this and anti-gambling advocates are on the prowl (see http://pokernewsboy.com/poker-gossip/high-school-implements-poker-club-to-teach-math/5351 ).

If Backgammon has a stigma of gambling attached to it, I believe that we could be hurting ourselves in the arena of child education (in some countries), with potentially negative publicity and liability. To that end I do not believe that schools are an appropriate venue at this time in some countries.

This may seem odd, but let's say you do teach backgammon to a younger populace, what type of person should be teaching? I would say that you'd probably have a lot better success with having someone like Stick/MCG and the perceived younger generation teaching. At a younger age I was far more interested in things my generation were interested in. Older Teachers may not garner the same respect and enthusiasm at some levels. I have often heard from my friends in real life who joke about my interest in Backgammon as "you like an old fogies game eh?" (That's actually a direct quote from one of them)

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