Is Backgammon Becoming Mindgammon?

It looks like 2008 will be a historical point of time for backgammon. After years of planning and development, the board game Mindgammon* will be available to the general public in late spring, 2008. "Mindgammon is a variation of Backgammon," says Christian Bailey, president of Mindgammon, Inc., "this was developed by Wayne Hulsen, Chairman of the company, after nearly two decades of thinking and planning the next generation of Backgammon. He wanted to make the game more user-friendly, especially for the beginners, and at the same time keep it a highly tactical game that would challenge the players' intellect."

The game will first be available for purchase from the company's web site (www.mindgammoninc.com) before being stocked at all major retail stores and through select catalogs across the USA and Canada in the late spring. The game can also be played online.

Innovation is not something new to board games. An early form of backgammon - Senet - is considered to be the oldest board game. Hieroglyphics representing a Senet game date back to 3100 BC and variations of this game have been found in many Egyptian tombs, including a flawless board in King Tut's. This game resembled the game we now know as "Backgammon", with moves controlled by the roll of dice.

The game of Senet saw many changes through out the span of 3000 years – the Romans, Persians, the French and the Germans all contributed with some transformations to the game. According to the famous Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest use of the word "backgammon" was documented in 1650, and most likely derived from "back" and Middle English "games" meaning game or play. The most recent development in Backgammon was the addition of the doubling cube in 1926-27.

For over five years, Bailey and Hulsen tinkered with the concept to ensure that it met all the requirements they had established. In 2005, they tested the game at the Chicago Toy and Fair Game. The reactions from the audience were more than encouraging.

For the next step they exhibited the game at the 2007 Toy Fair in New York. This is what Jarrett Weintraub, Senior Writer Toy Fair had to say: "A simple variant on backgammon, but one that nonetheless looks like fun, and it's certainly more original than a lot of other 'original' games we saw ("it's Risk, but in space!", "It's Dominoes, but the pieces bend!", "It's Checkers, but…"

Through 2007, Bailey and Hunsen have sought out the best manufacturing sources and planned for marketing the game board via multiple channels including retail establishments and the Internet.

The game will be produced in built-to-last, high quality beech wood, Polymer, and in chipboard (MDF) to offer a more competitive priced game board. The retail prices for the game boards will range from $29.95 to $129.95 (US).

Bailey added, "The game has received the attention of the International Montessori Council and the Red Cross. Through diligent efficacy testing, both entities have concluded that Mindgammon has the ability to sharpen young minds as well as curb the onset of dementia in the elderly."

It looks like the history of backgammon is really being rewritten as players will certainly have a new board game in 2008.

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