Name/Title
$1,000,000 TournamentDescription
Here is the brochure for the audacious tournament event pursued by promoter Jules Klar in 1977: an Amateur Backgammon Championship that would exclude the top-flight backgammon figures and offer $2,162,000 in prize money to be disbursed to over 512 of the over 16,000 players Klar expected to participate. The winner would earn $1,000,000. There would even be a "kiddies" tournament, limited to 512 youngsters to keep them busy.
Following the brochure, two additional letters from Cavendish West's George Bassman promoting the event go into detail about the structuring of the competition, spread among four different Las Vegas casinos for qualifying rounds establishing the final 128-player draw.
Ahead for the event, in August, it was revealed in a New York Times article that Klar had failed to secure the escrow account advertised in the brochure, causing regional promoters such as Prince Alexis Obolensky to withdraw from the event, demanding return of forwarded funds in order to preserve their reputations.
Owing in some part to the bungled planning and also to an east-coast blizzard that led to substantial no-shows, as well as to a growing understanding that the prize pool would not be of the scale promised, the event fell well short of its attendance goals, and only $350,000 in prizes were distributed. See the March 1978 issue of the Las Vegas Backgammon Magazine linked below for further details.
The tournament was won by Las Vegas player Chico Felberbaum.Publication Details
Publication Type
BrochureDate Published
circa May 1977Other Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
SequenceOther Number
1977_05_20Relationships
Related Entries
Notes
New York Times ArticleNotes
Articles and letters regarding the tournament
