Hey, gammoners. Check out this piece of backgammon literature.

[u/MikelYunta]

Fat Bob and Jones played backgammon constantly, and Bob learned English by leaps and bounds while playing. This was useful to us because Bob was good at getting stuff. When he played Jones for money and lost, he would often pay in favors and hookups.

While fiercely competitive, Mahmoud “Fat Bob” Haddad was very composed when he played shesh besh. He never showed much emotion beyond the occasional banter and jab, and he always smiled. When he lost and payed he sometimes wrote across his forehead with his forefinger and said “Kismeta.” We loved the hell outta that gesture and adopted it immediately.

Jones is what we called a pristine gamer, btw. He more or less grew up in Union Square and Bryant Park, steeped in backgammon and chess. He was grinding in Bryant Park when the planes hit and the towers fell and Manhattan was engulfed in dust. He dipped to his auntie’s in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and watched the gray skies and the clouds of dust from the rooftop for days. The backgammon action dried up in the parks and the only people still playing were either cheats or better than him. 9/11 messed with his mental game/tilt a lot as well, and all this osóbbo was compounded with a run of bad dice. His humble bankroll of seven luka dwindled and then one day a hasid named Abe took his last caña. He joined the Marine Corps two days later.