The Cruel Game of Backgammon
by Ashley Zacharias

“Why backgammon?”
“Because it has been called a cruel game and I want to play a cruel game.” Leslie smiled at her friend.
“It’s cruel because you’re going to give yourself a penalty for losing?” Craig frowned in return.
“No. The game is cruel in itself.”
“How can backgammon be cruel apart from your self-imposed penalties? It’s just a dice game.”
“It’s cruel because of the element of chance. There’s a lot of strategy behind backgammon, but if you get bad rolls, you lose even if you play well. The cruel part about that is not losing but that it keeps poor players from getting better. They spend their whole lives playing badly and cursing the dice. They don’t even try to learn to play properly.”
“How much does chance matter?”
“It depends. If two people play exactly the same, then the outcome is determined completely by the dice. On the other hand if one player plays really badly and the other really well, then the bad player will almost always lose. But it’s never certain. Sometimes, the dice will be against the better player and it does not matter how brilliantly she plays.”
“Do you think that you play well?”
Leslie smiled. “I think that I play well. Most of the time, I beat most of the people on the Internet who call themselves ‘experts’.”
“And you’re willing to put that to the test?”
“You mean, I’m willing to suffer a penalty if I lose? Yes.”
“The penalties in these envelopes?” Craig nudged the three manila envelopes that were stacked next to the computer.
Leslie’s heart skipped a beat, thinking about the instructions that she had sealed into the envelopes last night. “Yes. I’ll play three matches against strangers on the Internet. If I lose one match, then I’ll suffer the somewhat uncomfortable and humiliating penalty in Envelope One; two matches, the rather painful and decidedly degrading penalty in Envelope Two; and if I lose all three matches… Well, I don’t want even to think about what I put in Envelope Three.”
“So I’ll be the referee for your games today and I’ll administer the penalty next week if you lose.”
“Right.”
“Why the six-day delay?”
“If I lose, it will give me ample time to ponder the foolishness of my bet.”
“Well, if this is how you want it, then so be it.”
“Thank-you, Craig. I want you to know how much I appreciate your help. It’s a lot safer having you administer my penalty than trying to do it alone to myself. And I can be a lot more imaginative if I don’t always have to use handcuffs and wait for ice to melt. Not every girl is lucky enough to have someone that she can trust as much as I trust you.”

not the complete text