News:

The Glamour of Gammon: Backgammons Popularity Spreads to Television

Can backgammon rival the fame of Poker?

As the A list of the social elite expands to absorb the wealth of rising gaming stars that events
such as WSOP have produced, the playing field is opening to a new circle of celebrity gamers.
The announcement therefore that UK digital channel, Pokerzone has commissioned TV production
company, 8mm Productions to produce a 4 hour series capturing the action at this year's World
Backgammon Championships in Monte Carlo has started an exciting chain of events to catapult
backgammon into the limelight.
'The Game of Kings' and 'the King of Games'

Historically known as a game of skill and sophistication, backgammon has many admirers but as the
coverage of skill games increases, can backgammon rival the fame of Poker? Definitively yes
answers Patti Rubin, Executive Producer for 8mm Productions forthcoming match-play backgammon
series.

"Backgammon is more sophisticated and intelligent than other games, and what I think this
production will do is renew the interest for players who had ventured into other gaming areas,"
explained Rubin. "The power of television coverage is immense. You only have to look at the
difference it has made to poker, before television, there were perhaps 60 entrants at the WSOP and
this year, as poker's coverage peaks, 6,000 players entered this year. People actually wait in
line for an autograph from the winners. Because of television, the leading players have become
superstars. Therefore I think the media interest in backgammon will bring a lot of people back to
the game, as backgammon already has so much going for it."

The lure of fame is something that backgammon players have also recognized. "If people appear on
television, and become a celebrity by playing backgammon, their earning potential increases with
endorsements, added prize money and significantly larger player numbers and it is definitely going
to become more glamorous!" predicted Peter Hallberg, 2004 Backgammon World Champion. "In the past
year or two there has been a small decline in the number of players attending the World Backgammon
Championships, but after the efforts of backgammon servers such as Play65 and Gammon Empire more
players are coming back to the tournaments and this will increase exponentially with TV. Servers
such as Play65 (www.P65.com) have demonstrated the amazing power of promotion to draw awareness to
the game, while this series will bring a new found glamour to the game".

The Poker Model
Poker is a case-study for success and naturally offers a template for the exciting and continuing
growth of backgammon. "This series is the starting point for backgammon," affirmed Andy Bell,
Series Producer for 8mm Productions. "Poker is the template. TV was the catalyst for poker and
will be for backgammon. There is a real future in backgammon - it has huge potential. Ideally we
would like to see players like Gus Hansen return to the game, who have proven in the U.S that
games playing personalities can have very wide appeal, even to house wives! I can't think of
another game, other than poker, that has the chance to captivate viewers like backgammon."

HIGH STAKES BACKGAMMON will be broadcast during October and November on Pokerzone in the UK,
Germany, and Denmark. The series is being distributed to TV stations worldwide by UK company, TVF
International, one of the world's largest distributors of factual programming.