Feedback from our team, starting with Andrew who said:

Like so many cities in the West Midlands Birmingham to me in its houses and its buildings has a memory of its industrial past.

The Midlands Open organised by Mathew Fisher and Alex Ward was held in the Weoley Castle Working Mens Club building in the suburbs of Birmingham. Entering the hall filled with tables ready for Backgammon I was immediately impressed by the lineup of 40 or more of the digitally printed bulls as prizes on the stage. If ever you wonder whether Backgammon is play, with no objective in mind other to enjoy the moment, or whether you consider it work where you have a goal of a certain PR or winning a prize, then seeing those bulls provided by Ms De Havilland certainly triggered the ambition and goal to get one!

We had a good crew from our local area in Cambridgeshire, Maria, Steve M, Karen, Goran, Steve H.

All of us good players with a chance of bagging one of the bulls. As usual, the Saturday was about deciding which knockout on Sunday each player would go into within the intermediates and the masters sections. Also as usual, my Saturday was a washout, so I was in the lowest of the masters knockouts and was quickly relegated to the Last Chance. All of us fought valiantly, and in the end, Karen covered herself in glory on her very first tournament winning an intermediate bull. I was also lucky to win the masters last chance bronze bull. 🐂

Tournament play is an adventure. One can set out from the safety of one’s hobbit hole, and do battle with worthy opponents, and if lucky come back with a trophy!

With Karen completing:

I always wanted to win my first-ever backgammon tournament, but I arrived with zero expectations .

Here is how my weekend went from total defeat to an unexpected victory:

* Day 1 (The Learning Curve): I really struggled to use the tournament clock since I’d never played with one before. Because it wasn’t a knockout format, I survived the day—despite losing every single match.

* The Mindset Shift: Instead of giving up, I decided to focus entirely on each individual match and just enjoy the weekend. The amazing support and company of my fellow Cambridge players kept my spirits high.

* Day 2 (The Sweep): With even less expectation now, everything clicked. I went from zero wins on Saturday to winning every single match on Sunday.

When they announced me as the winner, I didn’t really take it in. The mental exhaustion hit me like a wall right after, but looking at this bronze bull on my shelf makes every second worth it. A huge thank you to the Cambridge crew—I think I’ve officially caught the tournament bug! 🎲🏆🐂