"Vanity Fair's Backgammon to Win" 1930 Mabardi, Georges

Details

Description

MABARDI, Georges

[158] pp.

Horace Liveright

1930

7" x 5 1/4"

A strange and somewhat inexplicable thing has recently happened: … Read more MABARDI, Georges

[158] pp.

Horace Liveright

1930

7" x 5 1/4"

A strange and somewhat inexplicable thing has recently happened: a very ancient game, a game which for many years the uninitiated public considered nothing but “child’s play,” mysteriously and suddenly emerged from the inside of the nursery checkerboard and, taking possession of the adult imagination, swept over the entire country. The ancient game of Backgammon had, over night, become a national craze.

But this new craze, it was discovered, seemed to have more to recommend it than the fact that it had become the pastime of fashionable people everywhere in America. Backgammon had a background. Its lineage was an ancient and honorable one. At any rate this was the belated discovery of the new writers on the game, as they rushed to their Encyclopedias and Hoyles, pointing with pride and fulsome awe to the fact that Backgammon had been played in Ur of the Chaldees, and that it was a favorite diversion of Tutankhamen himself, who — (and many a modern devotee of the game threatens to emulate him) — insisted on having his board buried beside him in his tomb.

Backgammon was known to the Greeks and Romans of ancient times, to Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dryden. Indeed, so great has been the zeal of the historians to prove its noble pedigree, that they almost succeeded in convincing their interested readers that it was the fireside pastime of Cro-Magnon man. The philologists capped the historians’ ludus duodecim scriptorum, or tabulae: (the ancient Roman name for the game) with a neat, but somewhat lengthy discourse as to whether the derivation of the word Backgammon was from the Welsh, bach, meaning little, and cammaun meaning battle, or the Saxon bac, meaning back, and gamen, meaning game.

But when the smoke of these piquant controversies had blown away, one fact emerged triumphant: Backgammon was a fascinating game. Of course, this was no news to the clubmen and oldsters who had been quietly playing it — to their intense satisfaction — for years. They had known it all along. ... They had not known, however, that what Backgammon needed to make it acceptable to the public was an element of danger and daring, a kaleidoscopic quality without which no modern game can succeed. This element, it must be quickly stated, was provided by the Double, a new and inspired development in Backgammon. It is the Double which has lifted Backgammon from the dry plains of strategy and science to the adventurous and romantic heights of an exciting gambling game, a game which is peculiarly suited to the modern scene and temperament.

The uniqueness of Backgammon as it is now played rests in the paradox that, while it has become a gambling game, it still remains essentially a game of skill, rather than luck, a game in which all the profits go to the experienced, rather than the reckless player, to the player who will gamble with his luck, but never against his percentages. In other words to the player who takes chances, but who knows exactly what chances he is taking. And in this knowledge lies the secret of successful Backgammon, and also the raison d’étre of this book.

The Editors of Vanity Fair were among the first to give Backgammon editorial attention by publishing papers by the best writers on the game. It soon developed, however, that while many of these articles had been excellent, they could not cover the entire strategy of this popular game, nor could they prevent players from falling into various misapprehensions, errors and confusions which were the inevitable result of the naturally limited scope of monthly articles. Therefore, Vanity Fair determined to publish an authoritative volume on Backgammon which would give the reader a sound and clear idea of its strategy.

Georges Mabardi, the author of this book, is acknowledged — by both the most experienced players and authorities — to be one of the finest exponents of the game, and one of the most successful players, in America today. It might be even said that he “inherited” his skill, for he is an Egyptian by birth and in Egypt Backgammon has been played for thirty centuries. It is a national diversion there now. Mabardi himself has played it, studied it and taught it since he was a child. Surely of all the Backgammon authorities, none is more fit to expound the sadly neglected, fundamental and traditional principles of the game.

The beginner will save himself much bitter experience by a careful application of the theories contained in this book. The advanced player will, by pondering Mr. Mabardi’s theories and strategies, find ways to increase his pleasure in it and — if he prefers to play Backgammon for profit rather than for pleasure — a means of increasing his winnings.

— The Editors of “Vanity Fair” See less