Most Improved Player 2015

Due to the storms tonight's mini tournament at the Pint & Post was a little short of players. However a good night was had by all with many games played.

The end of month mini tournament for January was won by myself with Lauren Oliver coming a close second.
All the results have been uploaded to the UKBGF website as well as the challonge site.

For full results go to our web site and click the tournament tab. Web Site

At the end of the evening one of our youngest players was awarded a certificate for the
 "Most Improved Player 2015" 

Less than a year ago Reuben Oliver did not know how to play the game.
Now, when playing him you have to keep your wits about you.

Reuben, proudly displaying his certificate and prize of a Star Wars stationary set.



Keep up the practice Reuben...

Back to normal

Last week saw one of our few unavoidable Lansongammon cancelations.
This Wednesday all is back to normal with our usual meet at the Pint & Post st Giles

Kick off is 19:30 with our hosts selling good beer and even better food.

Format is very informal with one or three point games being played. 

Next week is our end of month mini tournament.

Games to three points, to be added to our UKBGF  ratings page.

See you there....

January

      

So the UKBGF online championship has started. 72 participants have signed up to this first online tourny. I have yet to play my first match due to work commitments. But watch this space..

The brackets are up HERE on the Challonge website.


Our next Lansongammon mini club tournament will be on the 27th January at the Pint & Post, st Giles.
Provisional brackets are up HERE 

If you want to come along we play to 3 points only with no cube due to time limits. Drop me a line via the website or ring on 07899238206... Details on the contact page HERE


As a final note, the January 13th meeting has been cancelled. 

Backgammon Quotes

Never, ever, grab the first good looking play you see. There is often a better move around the corner. Go look for it. 
Kit Woolsey, 1991






There are three steps that should be taken EVERY time it is your turn to play: 

1. Have a plan. - 2. Consider the cube. - 3. Choose the best move.

 Thinking about these three things, in the above order, should become second nature. 
Kent Goulding, 1991
 

 
The best way to improve at backgammon is to get your hands dirty and really work to learn to understand this game. 
Neil Kazaross, 1994

End of year tourny

A very good evening had by all last night down at the Pint & Post.

For the end of the year, just before Christmas meeting we had a mini tournament.
It was the ideal time as a few more people were able to come due to the school holidays. (No bedtime and mothers not stressed)

 
We were limited on time so played 3 point games finishing right on time just before our usual stagger home time.  All the results have now been uploaded to the UKBGF website for all to see.

After several good games the winner of the first Lansongammon tourny was Lynne Norris. Well played Lynne.

The next mini tournament will be held on the last Wednesday in January.. See you there...

End of year update.

The next meeting at the Pint & Post will be this Wednesday 23rd Dec from 19:30. 

We should have a few more members attending this meeting so I'm hoping that we can play a 3 or 5 point  tournament to add some results our UKBGF rating page. Due to illness in the ranks, this hasn't been possible yet.

Starting in 2016 I am thinking that It would be a good idea to hold a regular tournament on the 3rd or 4th Wednesday of each month. Results also being added to the UKBGF page and to our websites hall of fame. (yet to be created)

members
Club membership has been very hit and miss to say the least. We have had people turn up never to be seen again. People who come along regularly and then just stop coming (was it something I said?)
And a couple of people who have come along only to be taken ill. (will let them off) 
We still have a regular core membership who come every week but It's strange that even with advertising etc players are thin on the ground. Ha Ho Onwards and upwards..

We have several things planned in the new year to add benefits for members (watch this space) as well as more advertising ideas.

If you want to come along for a game or two just turn up and say "HI" No charges to join or play.  Free parking and the Pint & Post does great food and drink.





Note the NEW featured post top right. 
This is a new Blogger feature to highlight posts that might just disappear off the bottom of the page as new ones are added.
 

UKBGF start up scheme

The UKBGF is pushing it's New and not quite so new club start up scheme again.
Follow the link above for full details..

Lansongammon benefited from one of their grants not to long ago. With the money advertising flyers and business cards were purchased.

 These flyers were posted around the Launceston area and the cards used to hand out to interested people and to leave in suitable places for people to find.

 Another club board was ordered from Amazon (we now have three in total)  and also a score board from E-bay.
 

After all that, there is still some cash left over to advertise in our local parish magazine.



 This seems like a good plan as most of our members seem to be coming from the immediate area. I'm sure there are loads of people out there who still don't know that we exist.

Next meeting this Wednesday at the Pint & Post, St Giles On the Heath, Launceston.. See our main web page for details.  Lansongammon

Busy Bee

I have spent the weekend updating the website to reflect the
new meeting arrangements and venue.
 

Also contacted several of the websites and organisations that have the club listed to change our details.
So, onwards and upwards. I'm hoping that as the evenings draw in more people will venture out to the nice warm pub for a game and a pint.
Hope to see you there.....

Meeting times HERE

Our youngest player

Someone has been practicing I think..
A new player to the game who seems very keen..He has mastered the basics very quickly and while playing him this week noticed that he is starting to use some strategy in his game. Building a nice 5 prime in his home board, then putting me on the bar for several throws. And he's only nine....

A good evening at the Firebrand this Thursday. Several family members turned up as well as one regular
player from the Pint & Post evenings.

You have to keep your strength up while playing. A selection of nibbles helps..

Flyers placed today at No8 Cafe in Launceston thanks to Adrian for that.. 

Next meeting Wednesday 29th July at the Pint & Post.. All welcome... 

Pint & Post etc

A good night once again at the Pint & Post.. A new player to the game turned up . She had never played before but picked it up very quickly.
Although there was only a few players available, several good games were played during the evening.

Bad news for me...Due to unforeseen circumstances I will not be attending the "Backgammon in the sun" event that I was so looking forward to in Bristol.
Maybe next year.

Total players coming to weekly meetings are going up all the time.  Not everyone can make it every week but we now have a steady core of players.



 

UKBGF Grant.

Well that was an interesting week.
Earlier in the week I noticed that the UK Backgammon Federation had started to roll out a new grant scheme for new start ups or clubs that had only just come into being.
I e-mailed them straight away and received a return that evening asking for a rough breakdown of what I would spend the grant on.
Since I have already purchased several boards myself to help start the club I would be spending the bulk of it on advertising via our local newspaper and whats on magazines, flyers and business cards etc.
The main reason for concentrating on this area is that I have advertised via all the usual social media outlets as well as many local whats-on sites with very little success.
I feel that there are many people out there who would like a game but maybe just don't have access to a computer or who just don't use it for social media etc.
Anyway, long story short they seemed happy with my proposal so a bank transfer was received a few days later.
They have also allocated me a UKBGF clubs adviser in case I need any advise on running our group.

If anyone from the UKBGF is reading this, many many thanks for the help as I think it is going to make a great deal of a difference to who knows about us.
Onwards and upwards....

More Advertising..

An advertising splurge took place this evening.

We are now advertised via Wozzon Cornwall  HERE    

and HERE on the Launceston 2020 website.

Also HERE on the Pirate FM community pages.

Posters are also in the pipeline for those who will put them up.

REMINDER: Next meeting Thursday 14th at the Firebrand 19:30--21:30

Second Backgammon at the Firebrand

  
Yesterday was our second meeting at the Firebrand bar. A good evening with four players in total.
 

  
As was mentioned on the night.. Even with only four players we are now the biggest Backgammon club in Cornwall. (Unless you know better).
The next meeting will be on the 14th May at 19:30. If you are interested in learning or just fancy a game please come along.

Tonights the night

A reminder that tonight Thursday 30th April is the second Backgammon meeting at the Firebrand..Why not come along and play against a real person...All welcome. Bring a board if you have one..

Calendar of events.

Just added to the blogg a calendar page..This will show local Lanson Gammon events as well as notable Backgammon events in UK and Europe.

Watch this space.. Events to be added daily.

Next meeting...This Thursday 30th April at the Firebrand..

UKBGF Membership fees.

 
I was recently looking at the UKBGF website joining page. As far as I can gather they are not open for payments yet.
The costs involved got me thinking about the type of membership I would like. As they say on their page, you should join at the highest level that you can afford.

Well for me that would be £25.00 for the basic membership as £40.00 is a lot for me in one go.

However, if they offered a Direct Debit option split into three or four payments to split the cost I would go for the higher £40.00 premium membership.
I know to some people the £15.00 difference may not seem much but when you have to watch the £££ then
£10 ish a month is far more attractive than forking out £40.00 in one go.

Just a thought as I think many people would like to have the option. And the extra £15.00's would soon make a difference.

UKBGF Basic Membership

Cost: £25 p a.

UKBGF Premium Membership

Cost: £40 p.a. or £100 for three years.

UKBGF Founder Member

This special membership category is only available for a limited period at a cost of £1000.


Don't forget...This Thursday 30th April at the Firebrand bar 19:30-21:30 more Backgammon

Picture.1

                   I thought I would intersperse posts with Backgammon related pictures.
                                           Ripped directly from the inter web thingy.
  

Don't forget Backgammon at the Firebrand.

Thursday 30th April 19:30-21:30

First meeting..Results..

Well The 16th has been and gone.         What happened??

Well I was a little worried that either

A: Nobody would bother to turn up.....  or
B: Loads of people would appear expecting a slick ready formed club.

In the end we had four people turn up, Myself and the wife account for two. The other two consisted of someone that works for the venue who had changed shifts just to play, and the other had traveled some distance just for a game.
Things are looking up for next time as four more people have shown an interest in coming along.

The venue seems ideal for our purposes and with all participants ordering food and drinks helping to swell the till slightly it's win win all round..

I'm carrying on with the Facebook and Twitter advertising campaign and a poster / flyer blitz is on the cards.  

Next meeting Thursday 30th April 19:30 at the  Firebrand  Don't forget this Wednesday Chess and this Thursday Scrabble.

Scrabble too.

At the Firebrand bar this Thursday there will be Backgammon as you may have guessed from this Blogg.
Every other Thursday there is now going to be Scrabble.

Please pop along and support these upcoming events.
Chess,Backgammon and now Scrabble too.

BIBA Club listing

I recently sent an e-mail to The British Isles.Backgammon Association  asking if they could include the club  on their website.
If you follow the link above to their site, there we are in their clubs section.... Result.....

Don't forget this Thursday at 19:30 Firebrand Bar, Launceston. Our first meeting. Come along and have a game. Bring  a board if you can.. All welcome..