A Silly Game of Luck?

A Silly Game of Luck?
by Phil Simborg – 25 June 2008

The other night an old friend came over to my house. Joe walked in, sat down, and noticed a few of my backgammon trophies. (Don’t know how he happened to see them on the mantle with the spotlight on them!)

He got up, took a closer look, and said, “Backgammon! You mean they actually give trophies for winning a silly game of luck like that?”

Being a clever, quick-witted person, I responded, “Huh?”

Further conversation revealed that Joe had “mastered” backgammon when he was in college but gave it up when he realized that it was almost purely a game of luck. He’d been playing “real games of skill” like bridge, scrabble, and chess ever since.

I guess my wife sort of noticed my neck turning red and my eyes getting quite large, because just as I was about to let him have it, she served up a couple of drinks and completely changed the subject. Of course, she also gave me one of those looks that immediately told me that if I open my mouth, just once, it might be the last time I ever do.

Thankfully, she reminded me that Joe was a guest in our home, and no matter how rude and stupid his remarks, I should and would treat him with civility. So, I simply let the subject pass and talked about less controversial things…like politics and religion.

Inevitably, however, the subject of backgammon came up again, as Randee and I were talking about a trip we would be taking soon to a backgammon tournament. And again, he expressed his amazement that “an intelligent person like you could waste his time playing such a silly game of luck.” I smiled and asked him if he still remembered how to play, and he smiled back and said sure. I made him a small, friendly wager that if we played five games, he could not win more than one. (We had to play individual games because he didn’t know how to use the doubling cube.)

I don’t have to tell you what happened. He played horribly and beat me unmercifully. Naturally, I was a very good sport (my wife was watching carefully and holding a very sharp knife) and complimented him on his victory and his skill.

The experience has not changed my feelings about Backgammon, but I must admit that the trophies are now in a storage locker.