The CRBA was very active in the 1990s and held six live international tournaments, five in Costa Rica, and one in Mexico, that were called The Tournament of the Americas. Since 1999, there have not been any other Tournament of the Americas and the association has been dormant in this area.

Whenever I go to Costa Rica I contact my friend, backgammon author Antonio Ortega and we get together with other members of the association to play chouette at a local restaurant or in someone’s home. I had the pleasure of meeting CRBA President Mario Lizano a few years back and again in two of the three recent chouettes.

And the subject always comes around... when are we going to organize another international event?

But this time I proposed to Mario and the other players that we should re-activate the association, promote backgammon again in Costa Rica and organize the 7th Tournament of the Americas. They happily agreed and my wife, Marjorie Serrano, has crafted them a new website for the association (at www.CostaRicaBG.com – currently under construction but some sections are done for now). A new association committee has also been named and the CRBA will organize the 7th Tournament of the Americas sometime in 2008, most likely in August... more news to come soon.

President Lizano says some of their previous tournaments saw as many as 150 to 200 participants and that many top players from the USA and Europe attended. The previos events were directed by the American Backgammon Tour’s Bill Davis and Carol Joy Cole.

Backgammon players in Costa Rica discuss initial plans for the next Tournament of the Americas, from left to right are... Marjorie Serrano, with Henrik Bodholdt, Milton Gonzalez, Mario Lizano and Rodrigo Solera.

A big plus for backgammon in Costa Rica is that it is legally registered as a Sport and not considered a gambling game. Therefore, unlike many other countries, tournaments can be held here legally. The CRBA will seek secondary sponsors such a car, tobacco, beer and liquor companies to cover some of their expenses and to help market the event, and they are looking for a main sponsor to contribute added prize money. They also hope to find an online partner to run qualifier satellites to their tournaments.

Several of the previous tournaments were held at Hotel Cariari, a stylish venue about 10 to 15 minutes south on the main highway from Juan Santamaria International Airport. If you go another 10 minutes south from Hotel Cariari you come to San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica, which is in the Central Valley surrounded by mountains. However, the CRBA is thinking of holding their next event at a nice beach resort.

Tourism in Costa Rica has boomed tremendously in the last 10-15 years. The country has also seen a lot of development by foreign companies in the area of beach resorts and luxury hotels on the dry Pacific Coast, which has some incredibly beautiful beaches. In fact, many a celebrity has also chosen to build in Costa Rica, some of which are known to play backgammon - Brad Pitt, Mel Gibson, Kiefer Sutherland and others are said to have private, secluded homes here.

Because of the development, a second international airport was built some years ago in the northern town of Liberia, which cuts travel time from San Jose to northwest beach resorts from three to four hours to under an hour, depending on which beach you’re going to. Apparently there is now a direct flight from England to Liberia, which we will verify further for our next report.

To keep the players’ expenses affordable, the CRBA is planning their event in August, which is off-season, and thus can seek a classy beach resort with an all-inclusive rate that they hope will be around $100 per day or less.

The tournament should attract many Americans and Europeans now living in Costa Rica that play backgammon, as well as many Costa Ricans. But there’s more, players from the Backgammon Association of Peru went to Costa Rica a couple of years ago and played some friendly tournaments with their Costa Rican counterparts. In addition to Peruvians, who have already shown interest in this next event, the CRBA expects many players to come from Argentina and Brazil, where backgammon is very popular, as well as from other South American countries and Mexico.

If online qualifiers are organized, this too will contribute to attendance and hopefully a very successful tournament that the CRBA will continue to hold annually from now on.

The CRBA also intends to talk to the World Series of Backgammon to have their events filmed for television.

In our next report on Costa Rica, we hope to announce the date of the 7th Tournament of the Americas. Meanwhile, the CRBA is organizing a venue for a monthly meeting which could involve a tournament with a ranking list, chouette play and lessons for beginners. For more details on activities, meeting dates and times, or any other questions, please contact Milton Gonzalez, CRBA Vice-President, by email at mgonzalez@costarricense.cr or GammonLife Editor Michael Strato at editor@gammonlife.com.