Joey Issa calls for backgammon clubs in Jamaica’s high schools
Published:Tuesday | September 9, 2025 | 12:07 AM
Custos of St Ann, businessman Joseph Issa, is advocating for the establishment of backgammon clubs in high schools across Jamaica.
Issa, who with his 17-year-old son, John, is an avid backgammon player, made the call after hosting the fifth annual Jamaica International Backgammon Championship in St Ann.
Issa said he and his son will be working alongside backgammon players Blaise Bicknell, who is Jamaica’s number one-ranked tennis player, and Katherine Dibbs, another young Jamaican tennis player, along with Contractor’s Marketing to carry out this initiative.
“We will be giving each school four new backgammon boards for free, and free entry into an under-19 tournament next year, with a winning prize of $500,000 to be used towards schoolbooks and other school expenses,” Issa said.
“Backgammon is the one true game that is the game of life. Everything is mathematics. Sometimes you get bad dice and bad positions and you have to make the best of it; and sometimes you have good dice and good positions and you mess it up. You never know what life will deal you, and backgammon is good training for life in that aspect,” he added.
He also said he hopes that having backgammon clubs in all high schools will remove the perception that backgammon is a rich man’s game.
Joseph Russell, from Memphis, Tennessee, won the fifth annual Jamaica International Backgammon Championship, which ended September 1 at Bamboo Blu in Mammee Bay, St Ann.
Russell defeated Avi Cohen in the finals to lift the trophy and cash prize.
Players from 10 different countries, including the United States, Canada, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Japan, Scotland, Australia and several eastern European countries, participated in the four-day tournament hosted by Issa.