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We meet every Tuesday at the King William IV pub, on the northern edge of St Albans. From roughly noon it's chouettes (i.e. money play; team against "Box").  At 18:25 prompt, there's a knockout tournament (i.e. match play) featuring "variable pool" entry (so you can choose your own stake from £0 upwards).  Those who lose in the Main tournament can then either enter a Consolation flight, or revert to chouettes. The evening's play wraps up when the pub closes at at 23:00.

There is no charge for attending and no "rake"; instead, please remember to patronize the bar, and choose from the food menu. Because we are playing in a pub, all play is cashless; the mechanism by which players settle up will be explained to you on arrival.

We aim to be a very friendly club, and welcome players of all levels of experience, including beginners. We adhere to the UK Backgammon Federation's rules and Code of Conduct, we also have a our own chouette rules (comprised two parts) which you can download here and here.
Regarding rule options, in both chouettes and tournament, it's:
  • Legal moves
  • Premature rolls stand
  • Dice on checkers only by mutual agreement
      and for tournament only:
  • Clock "obligation"
  • Baffle box "option"
Weekly tournament results are uploaded to the UKBGF ratings database, where you can track your performance against nearly 2,000 other players.  The same results are also used to decide the winners of two annual awards: the Fotiadis Cup, awarded to the player with the highest percentage of wins; and the Masterpoints Cup, awarded for a mix of performance and attendance/entry to tournaments, as shown in the table below.




Latest standings in the Masterpoints Cup can be seen here and latest standings in the Fotiadis Cup competition can be seen here.

There is one further award, The Waite Winner's Cup, named after Jim Waite, the late landlord of the Mermaid where St Albans backgammon first met, and held by the player who has most recently won the weekly Main tournament. 

Masterpoints Cup and Fotiadis Cup results from years up to 2024 can be viewed here.
Masterpoints Cup and Fotiadis Cup results from 2025 can be viewed here.