I came across this notice…as a press release, and I think it’s pretty awesome for those of us who love playing backgammon.

I’m not sure about the availability of this…yet, in the USA. But it’s something you all need to check out. It launched on Mar. 1.

It’s called MARS, and its a backgammon channel that will allow TV viewers to take part in one on one backgammon games using Play65 (the people behind this) software and the TV remote control.

The backgammon TV channel is currently available only in Israel, free to all of the subscribers of “Hot”, one of the two local providers of cable television services in Israel.

I think it’s interesting that Play65 has moved on to  interactive television.

In the meantime only in Israel, the new Play65 backgammon channel gives the TV audience an opportunity to escape from the bad news, loud TV commercials and reruns of Friends to sociable backgammon games with friends and family (providing they are subscribed to the same TV service).

“Mars” viewers who will open accounts on Play65 backgammon website, would also enjoy special bonuses of between 50 percent and 65 percent of their first deposit.

Backgammon was never a huge spectators’ sport and the few experiments in broadcasting backgammon matches on the small screen have hardly drew near the rating of the least viewed televised poker tournament, for example.

However, the phenomenal success of online backgammon has proved the potential of the most ancient board game as a communication tool.

We will keep you posted on developments.

As you all know, Backgammon is a game that mixes chance…

And skill.

Yes, there is skill involved.

Because a number of our viewers are relative beginners, I like to go over basic strategies every once in awhile, just a way to enhance the playing experience for those who have just discovered the game.

To start at the beginning two players play in a board that has 24 divisions called points.

Each opponent in a game has 15 checkers and they have to move them from the starting point to end of the board according to the results of the dice.

The  player  who manages to remove all checkers from the board before his opponent will be the winner.

Here are some basic strategies. You can google the various strategies to find out more…or check out this posting every week…eventually, we’ll get to them all.

The running game strategy is a cool way to play. It is based on moving chckers as fast as possible, avoiding being caught or blocked by the opponent, especially if the player already is in a favorable position in the game. According to the rules of the game,  at the beginning of a game it’s always advisable to obtain a good result of the dice, a 5 or a 6 are good to move the checkers out of the opponent’s side, followed by a double 5 or a double 6 to go faster.

The holding strategy  consists on controlling a point within the opponent’s inner board area so as to have an anchor point in the board and be able to hit the other player.

Thus, the player will be able to hit the opponent in his outer board areas and he will have a point where to land if he has to re-enter.

The priming strategy is based on building a prime or wall of checkers on six consecutive points. This strategy is used to block the maximum number of points in the inner and outer board.

The player who manages to keep the primes for more time will have a great edge to win the game.

The goal here is to create defensive walls to prevent the opponent from moving and hitting.

The blitz strategy is an all out attack on an  opponent’s checkers so as to prevent him from re-entering them.

To do this, players have to block the inner board area in six points and don’t allow the opponent’s checkers to move. This is a risky.

And finally, the back game strategy consists on having two or more anchor points in the opponent’s home board and hit a blot in the later part of the game.

This strategy is a little bit complicated and is generally used when the player  has a disadvantage in the game.

So there you have it. Five proven strategies from which to launch your game playing career.

Now, go out and play.

It’s new, but it’s pretty cool: The new European Series of Backgammon (ESOB), which recently announced the first of their regular big money cross-continent online Championships.

Find it at www.esob.com

The ESOB anticipate 70 players to play in their first online tournament.

The finals are March 28.

The ESOB plans four online Championships a year, with hopes that they will quickly attract the world’s best players and total prize funds of closer to 100,000 euros.

The ESOB is also attempting to establish an annual European tour.

Check out their website for information on each of the tour’s tournaments, and will feature post-event reviews and galleries.

In a press release, ESOB chair John Clark said, “We feel that the launch of the ESOB will open a great number of opportunities for the European backgammon community. With the vast majority of the continent’s 40,000 players able to compete in our online tournaments for a shot at sizeable prizes, we hope that these quickly rival the most established offline tournaments. They will also be able to host large numbers of competitors which can only help to increase the popularity of the game.

“However, we’re not here to destroy the social aspect, an integral part of backgammon’s enduring popularity and by inviting some of the best offline tournaments to join under the ESOB umbrella, we hope to be able to promote the tour as a whole and entice more people to enter each tournament. With the best interests for the game at the top of the agenda, we’re all very excited by the future development of the ESOB and backgammon in general.”

Well said, John.

Now, let’s play.

Dice Arena, the online backgammon platform, is running qualifiers for the World Series of Backgammon Shootout, the final round of the World Series of Backgammon Season III, to take place on February 6-7, 2009 at the Adam Street Club in London.

The qualifiers for the cheap seats will take place every night; the qualifying event for the $480,000 shootout that will be attended by big backgammon stars such as Falafel, Gus Hansen and Masayuki Mochizuki will take place on January 31, offering at least one package prize worth $9000 including the $8100 entry and expenses.

Off-line qualifiers will take place in London, Tokyo, Chicago and South Africa.

I’ll keep you updated on what happens.

It’s been the subject of speculation for years now.

What significance, if any, is the backgammon reference in LOST’s very first episode.

This year, the last year of LOST, we could find out.

Allow me this one week to talk a little about LOST.

I know not everyone thinks it is a cool show, but I love it. And to think that there may be something about backgammon as a clue to what it all means?

Awesome.

I just read a quote by Damon Lindelof, who co-wrote the pilot with JJ Abrams, in which he asked if the backgammon scene was an attempt to plant a flag for the series end game.

This is what he said:

“We can’t rewrite history and say that at the time the pilot was being constructed we were using phrases like “The Man In Black” and “Jacob,” but we can say that the overriding theme of The Island and what an endgame might look like — and that Locke was the character that was tapped into this almost instantly — was all sort of calibrated. Looking back on that scene, its intention at the time that it was written and its intention today is exactly the same, which is to basically set the stakes for the entire series. At the time that we wrote it, we didn’t think that there was going to be an episode two. At the time that we wrote it, it was a conversation about the good and evil internal in the people themselves. But obviously, as the show grew and blossomed out, that same conversation grew to encompass the nature of The Island and The Island’s affect on those people.”

We’ll get back to talking about the game next week.

But I just had to bring this up, as the last season began tonight and like many other geeks, I was glued to the tube.