What’s a good size backgammon board?

The first thing that you should be aware of is that there are no official rules regarding the size of a backgammon board, therefore, the choice depends entirely on personal preference, although the purpose of the board will effect this.

If you are looking for a backgammon board for a tournament or professional style use, you should be looking for a backgammon set with between 3.8 and 5.1 cm. pieces. This not an official rule, rather a commonly accepted norm, so, if you use these measurements as a guideline, you won’t go far wrong. When you see a backgammon board advertised as a ‘tournament board’ – don’t be confused, this is not an official size; it just means big!

If you are looking for a board for the family, it doesn’t matter what size it is; just make sure that it’s easy to move the backgammon pieces around the board and that there’s enough space for the dice to roll.

If you’re looking for a travel backgammon set, it might seem like the smaller the better, but this is not the case. A backgammon set with pieces smaller than 1cm wide by ½ cm high is going to be too fiddly – don’t forget that whilst you want the backgammon board to fit into your bag, you also need to be able to pick up the backgammon pieces and be able to move them around the board without disrupting play.