Full Name: Mary Hickey

Date of birth: 1955

Birth Place: USA

Current City of Residence: A rural county in Ohio, USA

Marital Status: Married, to Bob, 26 years

Children: Two, both much too smart to play backgammon

Occupation: Self-employed writer, keeper of family farm, formerly chemical engineer, newspaper reporter and photographer

How I Started playing Backgammon: While in Houston on a business trip, I let some sharks in a bar show me how to play. Since the game appeared to be at least partly skill, I told them I’d come back and play for money as soon as I learned how to play it right. If you’re down in Texas sometime and find them still waiting, tell them it may be awhile longer!

Backgammon Nickname: mamabear

Current Skill level: Let others judge.

Number of years playing Backgammon live: Let’s see, 7 or 8 plus 12...let’s round that up to about 20. Taking a break can be good for your game, but the 8 or so years I took were probably a bit more than necessary.

Favorite Tournament Venue: Places right here in my beloved Midwest

Titles won:

  - 2002, 2003, and 2006Ohio Masters

 - 2006 Indiana "Indy 300" Masters

 - 1997 thru 2004Player of the Year for the Ohio State BG Club

 - 2005Greater Columbus

Other important finishes:

 - 2002 Michigan Summer Championships (Open) 2nd place

 - 2004 Ohio State Championships (Open) 2nd place

 - 2005 Michigan Summer Championships (Open) 2nd place Consolation

Various side events, the most notable being winning the Blitz at Las Vegas, November 2006

Favorite Backgammon book(s):
Too many to list, so I will just say that if you want to play well, you have to read. Our current knowledge of the game has developed over many years--why repeat what others have done, when you can learn from their efforts and then go out and break some new ground? Perhaps the next good backgammon book will be the one you write!

Favorite Music: Depends on mood...anything from ballet to blues, Franz Liszt to the Grateful Dead, Gilbert and Sullivan to the Velvet Underground.

Favorite Film: Phantom of the Opera

Favorite Food: Southeast Asian, Caribbean, and vegetarian food, at coffee houses run by earnest young people who want to save the planet.

Other Interests & Hobbies: Reading, music, gardening, visiting with family and friends

Person I’d like most to meet: Joseph Kabila (President, DRC)

Favorite Celebrity: Angelina Jolie

If I could change anything in the world, I would... Divert the money we now spend on war to fighting disease, developing clean energy, assisting the poorest nations, and cleaning up the oceans

If I could change anything in the Backgammon world, I would... Get Ballard and Weaver to finish their series of books on the first and second rolls sometime in the next decade!

Additional comments: Backgammon is a great game, the best ever devised, but it can be dangerous, too. Play it and enjoy it, but don’t let it become an addiction, or let yourself become anxious and driven over it. Let it improve your thinking and broaden your mind, but don’t let it eat your life

If you are the author of one or more backgammon books please type in their titles here
  - 40-column series on chouette, recently concluded, for GammonVillage.com
  - Game Plan Selection columns for GammonLife.com
  - Early Game columns for Partouche.com
  - "Your Move" columnist for Chicago Point
  - Interviews with GGraccoon for Kit Woolsey’s GammonU.com