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Photo of the Day, November 26, 2009: Long Wharf
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The New England Backgammon Club (NEBC) plays its tournaments in an out-of-the-way seafood and burger joint, tucked at the end of a commercial strip in suburban Malden. The Dockside is a cavern of a restaurant, dedicated to Boston sports, Keno, and beer. Despite its distance from the city's center, it's the kind of place that could exist only in Boston. If you aren't talking Pats or Sox, you might as well be speaking Greek.
It's a fitting locale for the NEBC, the last remnant of Boston's backgammon scene. The NEBC began in the late seventies, when backgammon was as big across the country as poker is today. To hear club members tell the story, Boston was awash with backgammon players by the 1980s, with hundreds of players descending on an annual high stakes charity tuxedo tournament. Nobody can quite remember what the tournament was called. And, players didn't actually have to wear a tuxedo. But they wanted to.
Dan Chicoine's love for backgammon is unambiguous. "It is the greatest gambling game ever devised by a man," he avers. A tanned and slender man, Chicoine keeps his white hair combed back and his goatee in a fastidious point, his mustache curled up at its ends. Backgammon could do worse for a cheerleader. He's a fount of backgammon slogans. "The doubling cube, which was invented by Americans, is what does it." "If you like the thrill of gambling, backgammon is the way to go."
Chicoine got into backgammon the way many people did in the late seventies. He saw it on television. Starting with a 60 Minutes episode featuring charismatic champion Paul Magriel, Chicoine was hooked. He travelled to Nevada to see Magriel play in the World Championship, and even had Magriel autograph a copy of his book, Backgammon, widely considered the "bible" of the game. (Magriel, like most American gamers, now plays poker, which Chicoine calls "the competition.")
It's easy to get into backgammon. For one thing, novices have a chance. According to reigning NEBC champ Herb Gurland, "Unlike chess or some other games, there is so much luck that [a novice] might actually have a good chance of winning against a more experienced player." Gurland, intense and serious while playing backgammon, turns chatty when talking about the game. He estimates that a total beginner, playing a one point match, has between a thirty and a forty percent chance of beating even a champion. The odds diminish as the matches get longer, which is why, in tournaments, nobody plays one point matches.
NEBC could use some novices. Attendance at last Sunday's tournament was a far cry from the eighties heyday. The bracket began with twelve players, who played a series of nine point matches, with eleven point semifinal games and a thirteen point final. Gurland indicts the internet as one reason for the decline of live backgammon. But, he insists that NEBC membership has remained stable, with between thirty and forty active members, and a dozen or so players at each tournament.
Despite the encroachment of poker and the internet, live backgammon still holds a thrill for NEBC members. Richard Gilman, a friendly and soft-spoken player explains, "[Playing live] adds dimensions to the game. There are psychological aspects. And, I guess, some sense of community."
Or, as a man known only as Gil put it, "[Playing backgammon online] is like having a beer and smoking a joint online. What's the point?"
The New England Backgammon Club plays monthly tournaments (although there is no tournament in October) at 1:00pm on Sundays, except when it conflicts with the Patriots, at the Dockside Restaurant, 229 Centre Street, Malden. It's best to consult the monthly schedule at the bottom of the NEBC home page. There is also informal play every Wednesday at 6:30pm at the Dockside, though you should call Herb Gurland in advance.
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