This was the first party after the summer break, so it was great to see a good turnout for it. Most of us had been playing constantly through the summer, so the games were pretty intense.

And instead of the usual movie of the night, I ran all three of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, complements of Steve! ARRRR!. They started at 5:00 and it was a pretty late night!

We even broke in a new player: welcome Rickey! Nothing like getting involved in a tournament 15 minutes after learning the game, hu? We'll see if he comes back for another run at it.

By the way, a good intro to backgammon that isn't just fluff but shows how the game can get really complicated in both its tactics and strategy really fast, check out Bill Robertie's Backgammon for Serious Players. Everyone that I have introduced the game to I have had read this, and it has accelerated their game understanding and appreciation by a year.

For food, I had pizza delivered. And that was prefaced with plenty of snacks and drinks. It was a great party as you'll see from the pictures!

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"Arrrr... and welcome aboard, Ship Mate! I hopes ye 'av a good time, but leave me parrot Backgammoned Jack to his own self or he'll be takin' a crap upon yer head, he will... Arrrr..."

Rick is first to arrive. Avast, Matey! Sword and coffee at the ready.

Gary with Courtney and Rickey ducking for cover.

Rick, Marissa and Gary getting into it.

With Pirates of the Caribbean playing in the background, the games are in full swing!

Wine to go with the pizza this time instead of beer. Pirates drank lots of wine. So did I...

Colin arrives and started talking trash from as soon as he came through the door.

Didn't take Colin any time at all to get into it with Rick. Fortunately for Rick, he was hungry and so the trash talk had to wait while he stuffed his face.

The main room board was busy all night.

"Avast, ye scum! Dare to pass by for it be parrot crap on yer head ye need to be worryin' about! Arrrr..." — Backgammoned Jack, parrot of the day; perhaps dinner of the night...

It was tough for some of the players to concentrate on their game, and not get distracted by the movie...

I had handed out dubloons to everyone when they came in, and signed them up on the tournament ladder board. As you can tell, it was a hit. Except when they lost they had to turn their coin over to the winner. That was not pleasant to listen to...

Marissa wasn't too happy when Rick won her coin from her. At least she lost to the overall tournament champ. That's worth a week's bragging rights in itself, I'd say...

Some folks just can't focus on the task at hand...

This is what the loser's do: they walk - or stand waiting for the bus; whichever... The winners talk...