FIBS Board backgammon forum

I'm a new Backgammon player* and I've spent quite a bit of time scouring the internet without finding what I'm looking for.  In short, I'm looking for a dark cloth interior set with decent stitching that will fit in a backpack/computer bag and am willing to pay around $100 USD.

My father has had a case similar to what I seek all my life, except his has a light colored beige interior and you can tell the cloth is stained in several places.  Mine doesn't have to be "cloth", I just don't like the harshness of rolling on hard wood.  I have a very cheap set with cheap stitching on the points and the parts of the points "outside" the stitch have already started to peel up off the cloth.  For longevity, I'd like something that is darker in color and has better than "straight line" stitching on the points.  I also ordered a set off ebay that looked like what I was looking for except I didn't pay attention to the size and while I like it, the thing is much too big to take with me anywhere.

To sum up what I'm looking for:

• Around $100, flexible
• Soft rolling surface
• Dark color rolling surface
• Exterior can be wood, leather, or whatever.  I don't want the seams at the corners to be cheap looking though, if cover material is used
• Decent stitching on the points
• Not such a nice shell that it can't take a little knocking around
• Small enough to fit in a backpack.  The size of an average laptop comes to mind.

Here is the kind of stitching I'm looking for, or better:


These color schemes are fine:
(this is the one I bought on ebay, it is too big)


(I like this one a lot but the corners on the material look sketchy and there isn't enough detail on the point stitching)


(The colors here are great but again, the stitching on the points looks questionable)


A poker buddy taught me how to play a couple weeks ago.  I've always loved Chess.  I started playing poker seriously a few years ago.  Backgammon has a lot of the same appeal and thinking as poker; it also has that man vs. man feeling like Chess.

Finding a board that is nice to play on is so important. Small boards are rarely well finished, although there are some nice small Crisloid boards that occasionally come up on e-bay, mostly in America. Sometimes you also see a nice Harrods board second hand. One answer may be to find a nice wooden case and line the playing surface yourself. Cork is an excellent playing surface, lino tiles are good and you might experiment with felt or leather. Painted points aren't too difficult on the cork and I have made a very successful one with inlaid lino tiles! You can get nice sets of small baekelite checkers on e-bay which don't cost a fortune as most people want the larger sizes. Add good small precision dice andaway you go!

This thread just give me the idea for fibsters to post their Board online or any kind of board they like, original ones, strange etc....
Go there