Podbit · Freakonomics Radio
Backgammon in the 1970s was a fever dream of poseurs, phonies, and real sharks. Wealthy marks flooded the scene, convinced by Hugh Hefner's Playboy lifestyle that the game was glamorous — and most of them didn't bother to learn how to actually play, making them easy prey.
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At 36:55 · chapter starts 36:00
Dubner anchors backgammon's ancient lineage — continuous play in the Middle East since 3000 BCE, popularized in Europe during the Crusades to the point of a royal joint ban — before a 1978 Dan Rather segment for 60 Minutes about its 1970s revival provides the historical bridge. Bob Wachtel picks up the story from his own experience: he first learned the game in a Toronto disco in 1977, where backgammon tables were standard furnishings. The scene he entered was extraordinary — poseurs claiming to be royalty, cheaters, drifters, and wealthy marks who were convinced the game was mostly luck and didn't bother to study. Wachtel and his colleagues were among the few who did study: they would set up propositions, play positions hundreds of times, and log data. The marks would come back year after year, comfortably deluded. Wachtel draws the comparison to the era of the bison — the prey was everywhere and easy. He illustrates the scene's lawlessness with the story of a cocaine dealer who paid him in drugs, a little cash, and a stolen Gucci sweater.
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