Product Trends Magazine

It’s played in coffee houses from Tehran to Timbuktu, and it has been since the days of Alexander the Great. The game is backgammon, and it hasn’t changed much over the years. That is, it hadn’t changed much, until the advent of the internet. Now, this ancient pastime that combines luck with skill, talent with instinct, has a new home, and literally millions of new devotees.

Internet backgammon allows you to find a litany of strangers (and friends) to play against with just the click of a mouse button, and on sites like PartyGammon.com (a subsidiary of the world renowned PartyPoker.net), you can even gamble on your game.

Of course, you don’t have to gamble – it’s easy and free to play using the PartyGammon backgammon school, in which you get to use tutorials and no-wager games to your heart’s content, but when you’re ready for the big action of hardcore betting, you’re perfectly able to do that using their proprietary software.

There are always thousands of players on the system, and the PartyGammon.com folks offer a wide variety of different backgammon games, such as HyperGammon (in which each player only has three pieces), and NackGammon, where each player has four pieces at the back instead of two. The system also offers the option of speeding up standard games by setting them to 45 second turns, 30 second turns, or even 15 second turns.

To make things even more interesting, you can choose to join one of the regular tournaments, in which you can win big cash prizes, or even the annual one million dollar backgammon championship, with a first price that’ll see you quitting your job and never working another one again. If you enjoy backgammon (or even if you’re new to the game), try it out at PartyGammon.com – you can learn for free, take advantage of their tutorials, meet new friends who play at the same level, and climb the ladder to a million dollars – what more could you ask?

Try it now at PartyGammon.com

About the company: No matter whether you’re looking for video games, toys, games, standees, soundtracks, home furnishings, gift certificates, convention items, DVDs, collectibles, clothing, books, stationery, artwork or posters, if it has something to do with Star Wars, you’ll find it sold at the officially mandated, Lucasfilm-owned Star Wars Shop.

The big pitch: Discounted items for sale everyday, including exclusives that you won’t find anywhere else.

I have to admit, I hated, hated, hated the last three Star Wars movies. I know certain people love them and get all up ins, but to me, they were some of the worst big budget filmmaking in the last thirty years, like a trio of Waterworlds all lined up in a row. But hey, what do I know? I have a life that doesn’t involve Yoda-talk, so maybe I’m just missing out.

For those that aren’t missing out and worship the ground that George Lucas walks on, there’s the Star Wars Shop, the official Lucasfilm merchandise outlet that sells everything from ‘holiday edition Darth Vader statues’ to something called a ‘Lando in Skiff Guard Disguise Mini-Bust’.

I have to say, I wouldn’t know a ‘Covert Ops Clone Trooper Figure’ from a ‘Star Wars Porcelain Character Ornament Set’, but one thing I can tell you is that the items on sale at the Star Wars Shop are a lot cheaper than you would expect, especially seeing as much of it is limited edition collectible gear. I don’t know that I’d personally spend $279.99 on an ‘Attackus Wicket Statue’ or $399.99 on a 15 inch ‘Attackus Tusken Raider Statue’, but presumably someone out there will be saving every last penny of their summer babysitting money to do just that, in the expectation that one day it’ll be worth, like, $405 or something. So good luck to ‘em.

But you don’t have to be the geekiest geek of all geekdom to shop at the Star Wars Shop. Even a Star Wars hater like me can geek out a little at the General Greivous Bobbleheads (for just $16.99!), or the Framed Episode IV Film Cells (a snap at $69.99). And yeah, okay, I’ll admit that I wigged out a little at the Dark Side basketball jersey, though there’s no way I’d meet the hundred-dollar price tag for it.

All in all, what could have been a giant nerd rip-off is actually a collection of reasonably priced merchandise (for the most part) that will find a warm place in the hearts of those who dig it. We abide.

The Product Trends rating: It’s not our scene, but credit where it’s due, some of this is good stuff, especially to those who have The Empire Strikes Back memorized down to the last line, or have hung an Attack of the Clones poster over their john. If you go to sleep at night thinking about scenes from Return of the Jedi, then this is the store for you. 3.5 stars.

To try the Star Wars Shop for yourself, click the image below: