Board Making: Scrap Marble

The 3 Elements of Backgammon are Rules, Luck, and Imagination.  The Skill of Boardmaking is a physical construction of the rules, perhaps imaginative, perhaps not. It spreads the game to new places, whether you've found yourself without a board to play on or if you're making a gift for a pupil.

Scrap Board: Marble, Brick, Shale (??)

Back in April I was strolling through the streets of Pereira talking on the phone to my mom and my sister, when I spied some marble scraps in the grass.  I stuffed them in my backpack with no plan but much aesthetic pleasure at both their look and feel. A few weeks later, I realized they'd be perfect for a backgammon board.  I sketched the board triangles on a paper, penciled them in on the slabs, and then began wandering around my apartment looking for sharp implements. Two manual can openers, a dull pocket knife, and a broken bread slicer later, I had my board! The pieces are also made of scrap rock, one is a brickish tile and the other is a flakey shale tile. I also picked up some wood chips that I migh chop up to make another team.  I found a large hexagonal and screwy nut for the doubling device.  

Dawn and Katrina are visiting from the USA, and we played a few games on the board to much glee!  Two fantastic features are the "crevasse" bar and the bear off landing area.  The dice also bounce off the marble quite delightfully.

Make some boards, teach your friends to play and give them board presents, leave boards at your favorite boardless bars!

Happy full moon!
-Weamo

CONSTRUCTION PICTURES