I'm turning 40 this week and I've asked my wife for a nice backgammon set. I'm curious about what types of sets other players prefer? Wood? Leather? What sizes? What types of stones?

I love stone checkers and a beautiful wood boards, yet I'm also intrigued by the swanky leather/suede boards that dominate the covers of my 1970's era backgammon books.

Thoughts?

I think this depends a lot on what you want to do with the board.

If you plan on playing in tournaments or taking the board somewhere to play competitively, you'll probably want a pretty big board (~28 inches wide) and you'll want a cork surface, mainly because it quiets down the dice and allows for easy checker sliding.

If you plan on playing mainly at home with friends, I'd personally go for a medium sized board (less than 28 inches, for sure) and just get whatever surface appeals to you more. Leather is quiet, looks great, and those boards typically come with nice, heavy checkers. On the other hand, the leather can wear weirdly and the stitching on the points can come loose. Wood has it's issues as well: it's loud and the dice can wear it down eventually, giving it dings and dents.

While you are waiting to get your new backgammon set, you can play a fun game of backgammon by downloading one of these great backgammon games:

http://bestbackgammon.com

or play on-line with a friend.

Hi,

I agree the type of board depends on how you want to play. I would just add that, in contrast to the quiet boards of the "Western Competition" circuit, the wooden boards used in the Middle East make a great noise!

One feature is that players usually play fast and furiously and SLAM the pieces on the board.

The choice is yours :-)

Have fun.

Rager

Its a tough call... the wood boards are really beautiful. Are the checkers in these middle eastern typically stone or wood? A pet peeve of mine is wooden checkers that slide all over the board at the slightest jostle.

Go for one of these:

I personally like a medium to large size leather board.

The single most important thing for me is the size of the pieces in relation to the size of the points. I've seen many boards that have pieces too small for the points, so they're constantly being pushed out of alignment. Notice the picture of the large board in the post prior to mine. Those pieces fit fully into each section as they rest on their points. If the pieces don't do that, it will be fiddly and annoying.

It's true that some boards are like this. Always best to see and try any board if you can.

Regards,

Rager

Oh my word! Nobody has wished you a happy birthday yet?! Maybe it's just because I turn 40 this year too, but seriously: belated Happy Birthday!

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I have a large briefcase with cloth backing and fake-leather points and some clacky checkers. This was a thrift store find. But I still like it a lot.

As noted above, appropriate sized checkers is important. And while cork is probably good, one problem with a harder wood playing surface (which I've played on too) is that often the dice come out and slide rather than roll. I like my dice to have a nice randomizing bounce around before they finally settle.