Geoffrey Parker Prestige Backgammon Set

The Geoffrey Parker backgammon sets are perhaps the finest in the entire industry. Among all products in our backgammon sets & boards category, Geoffrey Parker backgammon sets are king.

Standing in front of one of the backgammon sets, you’ll notice a few things immediately. The quality of materials and the perfection of the hand inlaid points elevates the board from a collection of luxury materials to a real work of art. It’s larger than it appears in photos, and it’s heavier than one might expect. Everything about Geoffrey Parker sets seem larger than life, as though they’ve been hand made for royalty or an aristocrat.

Pictured above is a Geoffrey Parker Prestige set customized by one of our favorite clients, Robert. You may recognize the color scheme from the Prestige’s product page. We ended up using Robert’s set as the example in our shop because, in truth, of all the customized sets we’ve sold, this particular one has been our absolute favorite.

We hope you’ll have the pleasure of owning or playing on one of their sets.

Crisloid Red Tabletop Cork Backgammon Set

When deciding on a backgammon set, make sure you choose a surface that makes sense. There are a whole slew of surfaces out there, here are examples of a few that we carry in the Zontik Games shop:

• One of many cork backgammon sets from Crisloid. The Crisloid tabletop sets are actually what’s pictured in the photo above, and it’s one of our bestsellers.
• Here are some wood backgammon sets from Neroulia, which come in a multitude of types.
• A billiard cloth backgammon set from Geoffrey Parker and a leather backgammon set from Genesis Naylor.
• And a different kind of fabric backgammon set. This Dal Negro set is actually a very vibrant colored bookcloth, and it joins the Crisloid set as one of our bestsellers.

If you’re just getting your feet wet in the backgammon scene and you’re not yet ready to commit to a major purchase but still want to have an “industry standard” set, the Crisloid cork backgammon sets are perfect for tournament or chouette play.  The larger sets have greater “presence”, but they are more awkward to carry.  The smaller sets fit a greater array of tables, and are more “user-friendly” for younger players.

Until we had started carrying high quality leather and billiard cloth sets, cork was our favorite playing surface. Of all the cork boards out there, Crisloid produces the highest quality. Contrary to what you might think, cork backgammon sets are actually less prone to extreme bounces from the dice than leather surfaces (in this sense, billiard cloth is the best surface). Additionally, the points are screened on rather than sewn or appliquéd on, which means that the backgammon checkers slide smoothly over the surface.

Generally, billiard and cloth surfaces are much more preferable to wood and cork because they’re much quieter. However, backgammon sets with a wooden playing surface (like Neroulia for example) are very popular in the Middle-East and adjoining Mediterranean countries (in particular Greece, Turkey, Israel and Egypt). In the United States, we’ve heard several players remark on the pleasant “clicking” sound made when the checkers meet the wooden frame during a move.

Of all the surfaces, we prefer billiard cloth, it’s extremely quiet and the checkers slide very easily. Our Geoffrey Parker billiard cloth sets are made of a fine woven 100% wool in Yorkshire mills in the north of England. Amazingly, to design his sets, Geoffrey Parker collaborated with some of the world’s best tournament backgammon players. His boards are as close to perfect as you can get.

Warren Buffet and Bill Gates playing Bridge

In an effort to bring the game of bridge to school children, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet made a donation of $1 Million. The two are notorious bridge players, and being bridge fans ourselves we understand why.

We’ve hand picked bridge sets from the finest there is (Geoffrey Parker Bridge Set and Geoffrey Parker Bridge Book Box), and you can find them in our Parlor Games section among tons of other great choices.

In July 2006 on episode of Charlie Rose on PBS Television, Buffett exclaimed that he would gladly pay $5 million a year for the right to play bridge just 12 hours a day online with his friends. Have a look at the video where he and his buddy Bill play a game.