The problem with declaring "Nackgammon November" was that I was only able to play in a flurry for a week, and then I got locked into debate tournament mode. Thus, I declare that December will also be a time of Nackgammon. I find that the variant makes it so that the big mistakes I make are more interesting, The mistakes exercise different themes than those that come up in a normal game, and thus I think when I return to playing regular backgammon I'll have a better "feel" for some of those positions.
Another step in the future might to be use the idea of a World-Class player who guys by "Stick, " where the the opening positions change radically.
Stick writes of his variant (Stick-gammon?), "play this at home for a while yourself and then when you return to regular backgammon the game will seem so much easier. It's like growing up playing snooker and then coming to the US and playing bar pool. (or even regular pool to a degree)"
So the current, tentative plan: my play budget will go to Nackgammon for Decemember, and then in January and February, I'll play regular backgammon, and at some point in the future, I'll try out Stick's variant.
