Backgammon for Blood - Backgammon Book Review
Copy from the book’s 11th printing
Backgammon was the “coolest” game of the 1970s – can’t you just tell by the cover of this book? Although it does not say it is actually the author himself doesn’t this guy with the Kirk Douglas cleft chin look like some really cool Hollywood actor? The styled wavy hair, black turtle-top (“in” at the time), elegant watch and even the way he holds his cigarette – (in an era when smoking was not yet considered so “uncool”). And feast your eyes on the giant brown suede board with the bottle-cap-edged checkers and centered hexagonal cube... wow, very cool!
But what about the substance of book itself? Well, maybe not so cool! Especially if you really want to win at Backgammon. Becker’s book has received mixed reviews over the years and while beginners can pick up the rules of the game and dice probabilities from it, the author’s method of winning was considered radical by experts then and now. It preached full frontal attacking games, blitzing with "insidious openings" and "ruthless retaliations" – when, if mission failed, retreat to a backgame!
Becker’s schemed to make a “5-point builder” group in all-out effort to secure the Golden Point and build a prime behind it. While some of his opening moves are not all wrong today - such as slotting in a money game 13/11 6/5 with a 2-1 or 13/9 6/5 with 4-1 – Becker advocated that a 5-3 and 6-2 should both be played 13/5!
Needless to say, at a time when good literature was not abundant (until Paul Magriel’s Backgammon came along in 1976) undoubtedly this book sold thousands of copies. Why? Well, everyone was crazy about Backgammon back then, just like Poker today, and the book became a novelty item. It had wide distribution and quite likely prominent display on book racks next to Midnight at every drugstore check-out counter. Add to that a really cool title, a player would have probably figured that a $2.50 bite (price on the soft cover pictured here) was well worth a shot at becoming a true Backgammon Vampire.
Although sales records are unavailable Backgammon for Blood is probably amongst the top five backgammon books with the most copies ever sold.
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