Backgammon Trivia you should know

There are so many rules and regulations and plays that you can learn from Backgammon but how about we take things a little lightly today and a few interesting trivia points about backgammon. If you are game then here goes:

Current tournament facts!

• The first international tournament for choosing a world champion was organized by Prince Alexis Obolensky in the year 1964. The tournament was in the Bahamas Islands and there were 32 players from all over the world. The official winner was Charles Wacker from the US and this tournament as credited with being the first modern backgammon tournament that was held to choose a winner from all over the world.
• Tim Holland from the US was the first world champion who won three titles consecutively in the years 1967, 1968, 1969.
• Carol Crawford in 1973 and Lee Genud in 1981 and finally Katie Scalamandre in 2000 were three world female world champions who won the title for their country in the unisex tournaments that were held.
• There were three players who managed to become world champions twice and they are Bill Robertie from the US in the year 1983 and 1987, Michael Meyburg from Germany in the year 1991 and 1998 and Jorgen Granstedt, SWE, in the year 1999 and 2001.

Facts about the origin of the game:

• No one really invented the game but several different games were combined together over the ages resulting this modern board and rules that we play today. A similar game with a slightly different keyboard was found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb too.
• A few of the really expensive collector’s boards are made for collectors and they are made in ivory and gold with checker pieces that are inlaid with precious stones. These were made especially for collectors and each board now costs upward of about $4000-$6000 per board

Game plays changes:

• The doubling cube was introduced pretty recently by world standards. In the year 1920, members of the Lower East Side started using the cube and it slowly started gaining popularity. The cube exponentially increased the chances of luck in playing the game.
• The game became increasingly popular over the last years of the 20th century. Hugh Hefner, who was the owner of the Playboy group of Magazines used to hold regular backgammon games and parties at the Playboy Mansion. The game became really popular with celebrities and starlets actively participating in the game.