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recorded matches

Posted By: Chuck Bower
Date: Saturday, 30 April 2011, at 5:38 p.m.

In Response To: recorded matches (David Rockwell)

Backgammon has something like 1% or less of the materials available for purchase that Chess does.

Independent of the pay vs. no-pay discussion (I buy a lot, but don't feel that everyone necessarily should), I'm wondering how this 1% number is derived. In particular, has it been normalized by the number of "serious players"? Here I would define "serious players" as those who attend competitions, either local (as in our local BG clubs) or regional/national/global events.

I know there is a lot of bridge literature, and a friend of mine runs the largest contract bridge supply business in the US (probably world, with something in the low double digits of full time employees). There are a lot more competitive ("serious" as above) bridge players than BG players in the US, though.

I asked him where his money is made, as far as books, and he said it's far and away with beginner books. Apparently there is some combination of attrition (new players decide pretty quickly they're not interested enough in the game) as well as atrophy (once they learn the basics, they're satisfied to stay at that level). I have a pretty good collection of bridge books myself (> 75) but lately get my bridge fix by reading the daily column (Alder) in the local newspaper. And despite what Phil indicated in the thread about backgammon variation/rule changes, even the ones I have from early on (e.g. Watson on the Play of the Hand, 1934) are still applicable today. But I digress. :)

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