Download or read book Backgammon The Final Wind written by Chris Bray and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-05-11 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The material in this book covers not only the development of backgammon theory but also looks at the history of the game including some of its more famous and colourful players. Backgammon has never been short of interesting and colourful characters ranging from Emperor Nero to Lord Lucan. The timeless characters such as the Dowager Duchess, Quentin Quickcube, Barry Bigplay and the Enigmatic Englishman that make up Chris's menagerie continue to paint a vibrant picture of life in the high stakes chouette. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are on hand to lend instruction and Jeeves and Wooster provide some light-hearted moments. Chris's articles are targeted at a broad range of players and everyone from the casual player to the expert will improve their game by studying the diverse positions in this book.
Download or read book Backgammon in the Wind written by Chris Bray and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2016-05-30 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the final (at least for now!) book in the Wind series of backgammon books. The book is an anthology of the final three years of Chris's columns from The Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom plus some other material produced for the United Kingdom Backgammon Federation.
Download or read book Backgammon For Dummies written by Chris Bray and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-02-14 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive and fun guide to Backgammon! Backgammon is one of the oldest games in the world, the origins of which date back some 5000 years – and it's still going strong. It enjoyed a huge resurgence in the 1970s, and then again in the 1990s with the popularity of the Internet, where millions of people play tournaments online every day. Today, backgammon's following in the UK is huge, with a dedicated British Isles Backgammon Association, and hundreds of face-to-face tournaments taking place across the UK every year. In this book, backgammon expert Chris Bray walks you through the basics of setting up a board, opening strategies, middle and end-game tactics, and tips on when to make key moves. You'll also get to grips with basic probabilities, the doubling cube and the 25% rule. And if you want to take your gaming further, there's plenty of advice to get you started in tournament backgammon, as well as playing online. Suitable for both beginners and experienced player looking for more tips and techniques, Backgammon For Dummies includes coverage on: Starting and Playing the Game Handling the Middle Game Bearing Off (The Last Lap) Varying the Play About the author
Download or read book It s All a Game written by Tristan Donovan and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[A] timely book . . . a wonderfully entertaining trip around the board, through 4,000 years of game history.” —The Wall Street Journal Board games have been with us even longer than the written word. But what is it about this pastime that continues to captivate us well into the age of smartphones and instant gratification? In It’s All a Game, Tristan Donovan, British journalist and author of Replay: The History of Video Games, opens the box on the incredible and often surprising history and psychology of board games. He traces the evolution of the game across cultures, time periods, and continents, from the paranoid Chicago toy genius behind classics like Operation and Mouse Trap, to the role of Monopoly in helping prisoners of war escape the Nazis, and even the scientific use of board games today to teach artificial intelligence how to reason and how to win. With these compelling stories and characters, Donovan ultimately reveals why board games—from chess to Monopoly to Risk and more—have captured hearts and minds all over the world for generations. “Splendid . . . A quick and breezy read, it doesn’t just tell the fascinating stories of the (often struggling) individuals who created our favorite games. It also manages to convey the entire sweep of board game history, from the earliest forms of checkers to modern-day surprise hits like Settlers of Catan.” —Mashable “Artfully weaves together culture, business, and ways games impact society.” —Booklist “A fascinating and insightful discussion not only of games past, but the socioeconomic and historical factors that contributed to their popularity.” —Chicago Review of Books
Download or read book Backgammon Boot Camp written by Walter Trice and published by Fortuitous Press. This book was released on 2004-05-01 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally a series of articles that appeared online at GammonVillage.com. Every aspect of the game is covered, from the most fundamental to the most advanced.
Download or read book Seven Games A Human History written by Oliver Roeder and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2022-01-25 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A group biography of seven enduring and beloved games, and the story of why—and how—we play them. Checkers, backgammon, chess, and Go. Poker, Scrabble, and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across forty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism”; and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon program so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt, the Indian origins of chess, how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself. Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programs better than any human player, and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human.
Download or read book Backgammon to Win written by Chris Bray and published by . This book was released on 2012-06-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Backgammon is the ultimate board game - an action-packed race to the finish with an addictive mix of luck and skill. It is easy to pick up the basics, but this is a game that continually surprises - there's always something new to learn, and the Internet has opened up a whole new world of gaming opportunities. In Backgammon to Win Chris Bray, backgammon columnist for The Independent, reveals tips and tricks needed to help you play the game like a professional, whether you want to make serious money in online tournaments or just play for fun with friends. The 2018 edition has new diagrams, a new font and has corrected some errors in the previous two versions. A couple of chapters have been updated to reflect the changes in the game since the last edition in 2012.
Download or read book Hard Times written by Charles Dickens and published by . This book was released on 1854 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Backgammon Praxis written by Marty Storer and published by Fortuitous Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Last Castle written by Denise Kiernan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller with an "engaging narrative and array of detail” (The Wall Street Journal), the “intimate and sweeping” (Raleigh News & Observer) untold, true story behind the Biltmore Estate—the largest, grandest private residence in North America, which has seen more than 120 years of history pass by its front door. The story of Biltmore spans World Wars, the Jazz Age, the Depression, and generations of the famous Vanderbilt family, and features a captivating cast of real-life characters including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Teddy Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler, Henry James, and Edith Wharton. Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from one of New York’s best known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris, and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to be mistress of Biltmore House. Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness. He summoned the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to tame the grounds, collaborated with celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt to build a 175,000-square-foot chateau, filled it with priceless art and antiques, and erected a charming village beyond the gates. Newlywed Edith was now mistress of an estate nearly three times the size of Washington, DC and benefactress of the village and surrounding rural area. When fortunes shifted and changing times threatened her family, her home, and her community, it was up to Edith to save Biltmore—and secure the future of the region and her husband’s legacy. This is the fascinating, “soaring and gorgeous” (Karen Abbott) story of how the largest house in America flourished, faltered, and ultimately endured to this day.
Download or read book Cabin Pressure written by Josh Wolk and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2007-06-05 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happens when a grown man returns to the site of his fondest childhood memories? A wry, clear-eyed, and laugh-out-loud look at the transition to adulthood. Three months before getting married at age thirty-four, Josh Wolk decides to treat himself to a "farewell to childhood" extravaganza: one last summer working at the beloved Maine boys camp where he spent most of the eighties. And there he finds out that there's no better way to see how much you've changed than to revisit a place that hasn't changed at all. In these eight hilarious, uncomfortable, enlightening weeks, Josh readjusts to life teaching swimming and balancing on a thin metal cot in a cabin of shouting, wrestling, wet-willie-dispensing fourteen-year-olds who, contrary to the warnings of doomsaying sociologists, he finds indistinguishable from the rowdy fourteen-year-olds of his day in any way other than their haircuts. With his old camp friends gone, he finds himself working alongside guys who used to be his campers. Moments of feeling cripplingly old are offset by the corrosive insecurities of his youth when he's paired in the cabin with Mitch, the forty-two-year-old jack-of-all-extreme-sports whose machismo intimidated Josh so much fifteen years earlier, and whom their current campers idolize. And throughout all this disorienting regression, Josh's telephone conversations with his fiance, Christine, grow increasingly intense as their often-comical discussions over the wedding become a flimsy cover for her worries that he's not ready to relinquish his death-grip on the comforts of the past. A hilarious and insightful look at the tenacious power of nostalgia, the glory of childhood, and the nervous excitement of taking a leap to the next unknown stage in life, Cabin Pressure will appeal to anyone who's ever been young, wishes he was young again, but knows deep down it probably isnt a good idea.
Download or read book Backgammon for Blood written by Chris Bray and published by Skyhorse. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Backgammon is the ultimate head-to-head board game—an action-packed race to the finish with an addictive mix of luck and skill. It's easy to pick up the basics, but this is a game that continually surprises—there's always something new to learn, and the Internet has opened up a whole other world of gaming opportunities. In Backgammon for Blood, Chris Bray, top-ranked backgammon player, reveals the tips and tricks needed to help you play the game like a pro, whether you want to make serious money in online tournaments or just play for fun at a board with friends. While backgammon can be lost or won on the throw of the dice, tactical moves and game plans can help you adapt your play to deal with whatever comes your way. With chapters on opening rolls, mid-game strategies, and races and endings, his step-by-step suggestions, sample game illustrations, and easy-to-follow text have everything you need to come to grips with the game. The different ways to play backgammon—from tournaments and chouettes to computer and online play—are all covered, as are the secrets of making the doubling cube work in your favor. Insightful and informative, Backgammon for Blood: A Guide for Those Who Like to Play but Love to Win is the ideal introduction to this dynamic and challenging game.
Download or read book The Windchime Legacy written by A. W. Mykel and published by Cutting Edge Publishing. This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1980, the mysterious A.W. Mykel came out of nowhere with this brilliantly inventive espionage thriller. It became an overnight, international bestseller...astonishing readers with its daringly imaginative plot, larger-than-life characters, and outstanding action...becoming one of the most entertaining and beloved spy novels of the century. American has a secret: our espionage operations are run by Sentinel, an intelligent super computer that communicates with spies through an implant in their brains that massively expands their intellectual capabilities. But the power comes with a price. The implants are also explosives that Sentinel can ignite at its whim. Now one of Sentinel's creators is defecting to Russia with plans to create a red Sentinel twin and must be stopped. Superspy Justin Chaple is assigned to the mission, pitting him against the KGB's top assassins and, as a shocking conspiracy is revealed, the all-knowing, explosive killer hiding in his own skull.
Download or read book Rules of Play written by Katie Salen Tekinbas and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-09-25 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An impassioned look at games and game design that offers the most ambitious framework for understanding them to date. As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance. Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.
Download or read book Sugar in the Blood written by Andrea Stuart and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-01-22 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late 1630s, lured by the promise of the New World, Andrea Stuart’s earliest known maternal ancestor, George Ashby, set sail from England to settle in Barbados. He fell into the life of a sugar plantation owner by mere chance, but by the time he harvested his first crop, a revolution was fully under way: the farming of sugar cane, and the swiftly increasing demands for sugar worldwide, would not only lift George Ashby from abject poverty and shape the lives of his descendants, but it would also bind together ambitious white entrepreneurs and enslaved black workers in a strangling embrace. Stuart uses her own family story—from the seventeenth century through the present—as the pivot for this epic tale of migration, settlement, survival, slavery and the making of the Americas. As it grew, the sugar trade enriched Europe as never before, financing the Industrial Revolution and fuelling the Enlightenment. And, as well, it became the basis of many economies in South America, played an important part in the evolution of the United States as a world power and transformed the Caribbean into an archipelago of riches. But this sweet and hugely profitable trade—“white gold,” as it was known—had profoundly less palatable consequences in its precipitation of the enslavement of Africans to work the fields on the islands and, ultimately, throughout the American continents. Interspersing the tectonic shifts of colonial history with her family’s experience, Stuart explores the interconnected themes of settlement, sugar and slavery with extraordinary subtlety and sensitivity. In examining how these forces shaped her own family—its genealogy, intimate relationships, circumstances of birth, varying hues of skin—she illuminates how her family, among millions of others like it, in turn transformed the society in which they lived, and how that interchange continues to this day. Shifting between personal and global history, Stuart gives us a deepened understanding of the connections between continents, between black and white, between men and women, between the free and the enslaved. It is a story brought to life with riveting and unparalleled immediacy, a story of fundamental importance to the making of our world.
Download or read book BRIDESHEAD REVISITED THE SACRED AND PROFANE MEMORIES OF CAPTAIN CHARLES RYDER written by Evelyn Waugh and published by Alien Ebooks. This book was released on 2023-06-01 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Gimmicks written by Chris McCormick and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The Gimmicks is a gorgeous epic that astounds with its scope and beauty. With empathy and humor, McCormick unravels the ties between brotherhood and betrayal, love and abandonment, and the fictions we create to live with the pain of the past. This novel will blow you away.” —Brit Bennett, New York Times bestselling author of The Mothers Set in the waning years of the Cold War, a stunning debut novel about a trio of young Armenians that moves from the Soviet Union, across Europe, to Southern California, and at its center, one of the most tragic cataclysms in twentieth-century history—the Armenian Genocide—whose traumatic reverberations will have unexpected consequences on all three lives. This exuberant, wholly original novel begins in Kirovakan, Armenia, in 1971. Ruben Petrosian is a serious, solitary young man who cares about two things: mastering the game of backgammon to beat his archrival, Mina, and studying the history of his ancestors. Ruben grieves the victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, a crime still denied by the descendants of its perpetrators, and dreams of vengeance. When his orphaned cousin, Avo, comes to live with his family, Ruben’s life is transformed. Gregarious and physically enormous, with a distinct unibrow that becomes his signature, Avo is instantly beloved. He is everything Ruben is not, yet the two form a bond they swear never to break. But their paths diverge when Ruben vanishes—drafted into an extremist group that will stop at nothing to make Turkey acknowledge the genocide. Unmoored by Ruben’s disappearance, Avo and Mina grow close in his absence. But fate brings the cousins together once more, when Ruben secretly contacts Avo, convincing him to leave Mina and join the extremists—a choice that will dramatically alter the course of their lives. Left to unravel the threads of this story is Terry “Angel Hair” Krill, a veteran of both the US Navy and the funhouse world of professional wrestling, whose life intersects with Avo, Ruben, and Mina’s in surprising and devastating ways. Told through alternating perspectives, The Gimmicks is a masterpiece of storytelling. Chris McCormick brilliantly illuminates the impact of history and injustice on ordinary lives and challenges us to confront the spectacle of violence and the specter of its aftermath.
