New Moon Backgammon Links

Phil Simborg is a backgammon player who has a few good youtube videos with tips about taking pieces off, and maybe some other things, I can't remember.  I think he also has some marching band videos of his daughter.  Hmm.  Well, check out his youtube, at least one of the videos has good advice!! 

But to stop there is a bit ignorant. Simborg is a world class teacher who also teaches at mindgamescenter.com for pay, and he has several articles on the epic site "Backgammon Galore" (that site probably has the most backgammon content that's both free and quality.)  I have not watched all of his youtube videos, so I don't know how many backgammon tips he gives.  However, the one I did watch was about advanced bearing off techniques from Kit Woolsey, another world class player.  Thanks, Phil!

Matt Singer made a gorgeous suede and leather roll up backgammon board with snaps and a zipper, then sold out of all of them!  This set you can't buy also includes a custom wagering die that "decides what's at stake for the loser (in the form of a mild punishment). The sides of the wagering die read (DEAD ARM, NOOGIE, WET WILLY, DUTCH RUB, SNAKE BITE, & PURPLE NURPLE)."  $240. [spits drink]

When I first found "Backgammon Moments", I thought perhaps I'd found another blog doing the same thing as the Backgammon Hearth!  Not quite.  This blog does have articles about backgammon history and news, but otherwise it is about basic rules, strategy and poker.  I didn't really read the basic strategy or rules guides.  The site is also full of links to gambling websites, which gives me the impression that the author is simply trying to make money.  It also has the really annoying feature that whenever you click on the page it takes you back to the home page.  ?!?!  However, I did find a link to the crazy stories about the Russian Backgammon Murder from 2008 and the 134 year old Georgia woman who plays backgammon and drinks vodka.  Also, the blog's first post was about playing backgammon with his siblings growing up.  Still, kind of a weird site.

And here's the story about the Backgammon Murder!!  Via RIA Novosti, a Russian news service, two men in Moscow shared a cab, then struck up a friendship in 2008. It ended in a game of backgammon to the death played on a board made by the soon to be murderer in a stint in a labor camp.

"We agreed that he who lost would die," Smirnitsky told an investigator in a recorded interview posted on the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper's website, adding: "He lost."  "Didn't you feel sorry for him?" asked the investigator.  "I did," came the impassive reply. 

Smirnitsky also said that although he often played backgammon and did not always win, this was the first time he had played for such high stakes.

Smirnitsky was caught when he asked his neighbor for help dragging the body from the eighth floor down to the street. Somehow this all sounds to weird to be true, but I think it actually happened. I don't know, however, if the winning roll was a 5-2. The story on the English RIA Novosti says "after Smirnitsky had beaten his young opponent, he went into the kitchen, chose a knife, and plunged it five times into Lobozov's neck." 5 times in2. 5-2. Woah.

Finally, check out this painting by the Le Nain brothers called "The Backgammon Players". Hooray. This really boring painting is from sometime in the early 1600s in France. If you want more current backgammon pictures, we have a feed of pictures form flickr on the side bar. I also highly reccomend the #backgammon on Instagram! K. Viva le Tric Trrraque!!

HERE I'M SORRY FOR POSTING THIS BORING PAINTING, PLEASE FORGIVE ME AND ENJOY THIS LINK TO A WEB VIEWER OF #BACKGAMMON ON INSTAGRAM!!!

"Oh yeah. They're all looking at me."