“If something feels right and the people involved are interesting, then I just say yes and see what happens,” says Ben Bailey Smith (aka Doc Brown) of the philosophy behind his series of backgammon tournaments, Backgammon and Wax. Bailey Smith has modernised the community club by soundtracking backgammon tournaments with live vinyl music. “There was a lot of serendipity around the birth and growth of this thing” says Bailey Smith. “The key thing is that we never tried hard.”
Bailey Smith has been playing backgammon since he was 17. But after “a little tourney” with friends about 12 months ago, excitement around his hobby spread. “The first thing that changed everything was some photos on Instagram,” he tells Broadsheet. “Instagram is the poisoned chalice. But it’s actually been central to many relationships that have helped turn this into a business.” Bailey hosted a couple of at-home knockouts before he started running more structured concepts at his local in Kensal Rise. Now, Backgammon and Wax runs 40-person tournaments – with cash prizes – at sound-first London venues such as the Prince of Peckham, Islington’s One Eighty One, Buster Mantis in Deptford and Soho’s Century Club.
Bailey has a varied skill set; he’s a rapper, actor and comedian, and his experience running youth clubs makes him a natural host. “I’m really good at herding cats!” he says, laughing. “It’s probably one of my best skills.” Yet he doesn’t act solo. One of his early attendees was Jeremy “Uncle Vibes” Newton, a DJ who suggested trialling offering backgammon games at Century Club one night when he was playing. “Jeremy has got a real can-do attitude. We’re similar in that way. Together we’re a bit of a powerhouse,” Bailey Smith says.
The event is “strictly vinyl”, says Newton. He plays “anything with a groove”. Guest DJs spin funk, soul, reggae, jazz, R&B and soulful hip-hop. Backgammon is well suited to a soundtrack. “You couldn’t have this distraction with a game like chess,” says Bailey Smith. “The game has a lot of breathing room. It’s a great pressure-free way to find out about someone; sort of like speed dating another human.”
The club is a place you might spot Gen Z smiling across from grandmothers and is almost always an even split of men and women. “The age range and the diversity of crowd is just phenomenal,” Bailey Smith tells us. “This game was mostly white and male and bald, and now we’ve got ages 16 to 89. Jeremy and I both have mixed heritage. [Backgammon and Wax] is our own little milieu. And we’ve witnessed friendships, romances and business connections all made across the board.”
With upcoming events selling out fast, traction is building. “We’re now official partners of The UK Backgammon Federation,” adds Newton. The organisation approached them to help revitalise the backgammon scene. Backgammon and Wax’s footprint now extends beyond the UK. In May this year, they ran a collaboration with The NYC Backgammon Club. The team is also in conversations to plan future events alongside WeHo Backgammon Club, Los Angeles, and The Jamaica Inn in Jamaica’s Ocho Rios.
“We’ve just responded to the community that’s grown around us,” says Bailey Smith. In a digital age they’re helping people connect. “It’s landed neatly at a moment in time when people want something else. They want to feel engaged; they just want to feel something.”
