Reading a Backgammon Board: Championship to Club

Every Geoffrey Parker backgammon board is hand-built to order in the same Essex workshop, and every one of them plays to championship standards. What separates one from another is not quality but character: the class decides what the stones and the playing field are made of, the size decides how the board sits on a table and in the hand, and the case decides whether it travels or stays put. Read those three choices in order and the range stops looking like a catalogue and starts looking like a decision.

First, the class

Championship Class is the board the workshop is known for. The stones are full leather, fine-edged and weighted, to a design worked out with the former world champion Paul Magriel, and the doubling cube is inlaid leather to match. It is the quietest board of the five — leather on leather makes almost no sound — and it is the one serious players tend to ask for by name.

Contemporary Class keeps the same case and the same inlaid leather field but changes the stones to inlaid leather rimmed in gilt or chrome, with a giant doubling cube to match. The metal edge gives the board a modern line and a slightly brighter feel in play. It is also the class offered in bridle hide, automotive hide and carbon-fibre hide, so it is the natural choice if the board has to sit beside a particular car, a particular chair or a particular room.

Mediterranean Class is for players who like a game with some sound to it. The playing field is marquetry — a veneered board inlaid with points in Macassar ebony, figured sycamore or burr walnut — and the checkers combine wood and leather with a gilt or chrome rim. It is the most decorative of the classes and the one most often chosen as a piece for a library or a study.

Prestige Class pairs a hand-inlaid leather field with pearlised acrylic checkers. Each stone has a finger dish on one side for contemporary play and a flat face on the other for the traditional grip, and the doubling cube is acrylic. A leather Crawford/Jacoby indicator disc is stowed in the dice cups, which tells you the audience the workshop had in mind: tournament players who want a fast, exact board at a slightly gentler price than full leather.

Club Class is the same idea with a billiard-cloth playing field in place of inlaid leather. Cloth is the fastest surface of all and it is quiet; it is the traditional choice for club and tournament rooms, which is where the name comes from. The case is still bound in Dauphin leather, so a Club board is a Geoffrey Parker in every respect but the field.

Then, the size

Five sizes run through every class, named for the stone rather than the case. Competition takes a 51 mm (2″) stone in a case that closes to 650 × 410 × 85 mm — the board used for tournaments and the one that fills a games table properly. Tournament takes a 44.5 mm (1¾″) stone at 605 × 375 mm and is, for most homes, the ideal size: large enough to play seriously, small enough to live on a side table. Challenge, at 38 mm (1½″) and 517 × 335 mm, suits a smaller room or a boat. Fireside, at 32 mm (1¼″) and 415 × 297 mm, is the board for an armchair and a low table. Compact Travel, at 25.4 mm (1″) in a case only 60 mm deep, goes in a weekend bag.

Two details follow the size rather than the class. Ball-cornered precision dice are supplied as standard on the Competition and Tournament boards, and the dice cups on every size but Compact Travel carry an internal trip, a small lip that forces the dice to tumble out rather than slide. Both exist for the same reason: a Geoffrey Parker is built for fair play first and decoration second.

Attaché or table-top

The classic presentation is the attaché: a full leather case with nickel or gilt locks and handle plates and a hand-stitched solid leather carrying handle, so the board closes on its own stones and travels. The table-top edition keeps the same tray and inlaid field but has no lid and no handle; it folds in half for storage, has a non-slip suedette underside, and is meant to stay out on a table where it is played every evening. Championship, Contemporary, Prestige and Club are all offered both ways in the four larger sizes.

What is common to all of them

Whichever class and size you choose, the playing field is inlaid rather than stitched, because a seam under a moving stone is a seam that slows the game. The case is bound by hand, the field is laid by hand, and the leather — Dauphin calf in thirteen colours, or bridle hide, or one of the exotic skins — is chosen at the time of order rather than from stock. Above the standard range sit the exceptional pieces: cases bound in alligator, in water snake, and in water snake set with crystals.

Making it yours

Because every board is made to order, almost every element can be personalised. The points can be any two colours from the Dauphin range; initials are embossed in gold or silver without charge; a logo can be embossed into the centre of the field or the lid of the case for a small die-making fee. Allow six to eight weeks outside the peak season. El Laguito Cigars handles the order with the workshop, the import and delivery within Canada, and will walk you through the leather swatches before anything is cut.

A short recommendation

If you want one board for life and you play in earnest, choose Championship Class in Tournament size. If the board is a gift or a piece for a particular room, choose Contemporary or Mediterranean and pick the leather and points to suit the setting. If you play in a club, Club or Prestige Class will feel immediately familiar. And if you are not sure, start a conversation with us: it is a much easier decision with the swatches on the table.