Bob Wachtel

He said, don't you know anything?

He said, a check is just a piece of paper that the bank issues, but I'm writing my account number right on this napkin.

So this is just as good as a check.

If you went to tournaments, you'd find the most zany collection of characters.

There were lots of people who pretended to be royalty.

There were snobs of different kinds and posers and drifters and people who were cheaters and lots of people were phonies.

But none of them were very good at backgammon.

And most of them believed that they were much, much better than they were.

So they'd be willing to play anyone.

In the early 70s, backgammon was a place of magical thinking.

and people believed that it was a game of luck.

They didn't do any work, most of them, but there was some work you could do, and there was some calculation.

There were ways of learning the game, which most of the populace didn't participate in at all.

Did you do a lot of that kind of work yourself?

I didn't do as much as some other people.

If you really...

cared to learn specific elements of the game.

You would set up a position and play it many times.

People weren't shy about expressing their opinions in those days.

You would make a move and one of your compatriots would say, that's ridiculous.