Bought my Backgammon Board...finally (1 Viewer)

[Flat12]

After a few back and forths, changes of heart, re-evaluations, discussions and whatnot, I broke my initial trepidation over cork boards and went for a Crisloid.

The Crisloid people over at Providence, Rhode Island are a real pleasure to deal with. I asked for some minor customization on their Legacy Midnight Board (part of their Legacy Series) and they got everything made and shipped in a little under 3 weeks. USPS shipping to my location took about 9 days.

Love the board. Checkers slide effortlessly like hockey pucks along with a satisfying amount of dice action on this sort of surface, which included the occasional spinning dice.

@BGinGA , you mentioned to me back in July that untreated cork will get dirty and show pip/paint wear with heavy use along with your prior experience of upgrading Crisloid boards.

I did ask Crisloid about this but they replied that they apply a proprietary coating on the cork during production and no further treatment is necessary.

Does that dovetail with any of your recent experiences with Crisloid boards and would you recommend I go ahead with treating the surface anyway as an added measure ?

Anyway here are the pictures. The darker pips are purple, but only under very bright light. Under normal lighting they appear dark blue/black :-

 

[Kakeesh]

What a gorgeous set, you've inspired me to purchase a lesser, but still gorgeous, set for my father this holiday.

 

[ekricket]

I’m a crisloid fan.

 

[Payback]

Beautiful set! That came out amazing and I love the color scheme.

My oldest son just started getting into backgammon and I just started looking to upgrade our set. I had a bit of sticker shock on the nicer sets and can't justify that kind of purchase now. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as it's like poker or chess sets, but our $20 cheap set works just fine for now.

 

[redeagle]

Love these sets. I used to play a lot in college but then moved and it’s not a game many play down here. Dominos filled in the gap but I miss a good backgammon partner.

 

[Lemonzest]

I love BG ! So is Crisloid like the Paulson equivalent in the BG board world?

 

[BGinGA]

@BGinGA , you mentioned to me back in July that untreated cork will get dirty and show pip/paint wear with heavy use along with your prior experience of upgrading Crisloid boards.

I did ask Crisloid about this but they replied that they apply a proprietary coating on the cork during production and no further treatment is necessary.

Does that dovetail with any of your recent experiences with Crisloid boards and would you recommend I go ahead with treating the surface anyway as an added measure ?

Crisloid coating their cork boards is new. No way to tell how long it will hold up under use, but I would not initially add additional protection.

I do not recommend storing the board in a high-heat environment (like an automobile in summer), since the glues used will melt and the thin cork can peel and bubble up.

ekricket's brown board photos above show early signs of dirt and wear on their earlier untreated cork models.

So is Crisloid like the Paulson equivalent in the BG board world?

No -- closer to china clays in comparison.

 

[GianThaMan]

Crisloid coating their cork boards is new. No way to tell how long it will hold up under use, but I would not initially add additional protection.

ekricket's brown board photos above show early signs of dirt and wear on their earlier untreated cork models.


No -- closer to china clays in comparison.

What would be the Paulson equivalent? I’d look it up, but I assume it’s like looking up the best poker chips online, all crappy mass-produced stuff that you quickly realize is garbage.

 

[BGinGA]

Love these sets. I used to play a lot in college but then moved and it’s not a game many play down here. Dominos filled in the gap but I miss a good backgammon partner.

I haven't checked lately, but Miami and Fort Lauderdale both used to have backgammon clubs with weekly play.

 

[BGinGA]

What would be the Paulson equivalent? I’d look it up, but I assume it’s like looking up the best poker chips online, all crappy mass-produced stuff that you quickly realize is garbage.

There are two PCF threads discussing it -- search 'backgammon boards' and 'backgammon sets' for info.

 

[ekricket]

Crisloid coating their cork boards is new. No way to tell how long it will hold up under use, but I would not initially add additional protection.

I do not recommend storing the board in a high-heat environment (like an automobile in summer), since the glues used will melt and the thin cork can peel and bubble up.

ekricket's brown board photos above show early signs of dirt and wear on their earlier untreated cork models.


No -- closer to china clays in comparison.

yeah, I picked up two of the oversized folding brown ones at garage sales for $20-$30 each. I can live with a little age and patina for those prices.
The non folders (bg and checkers) are newer from ~three years ago and the cork on them is a little darker shade.

 

[Flat12]

Beautiful set! That came out amazing and I love the color scheme.

My oldest son just started getting into backgammon and I just started looking to upgrade our set. I had a bit of sticker shock on the nicer sets and can't justify that kind of purchase now. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as it's like poker or chess sets, but our $20 cheap set works just fine for now.

The base set in Crisloid's 'Legacy Series' will cost US$450 (not including shipping). They have other cheaper options that are also aesthetically good. The one I bought is the 'Legacy Midnight' and I paid a little extra for a doubling cube in custom color and getting them to monogram the words 'Crisloid Made in USA' onto the cups.

https://crisloid.com/product/legacy-midnight-tournament-attache/

Do note that the pictures on their link show a much lighter purple on the darker pips. It may be just how their pictures turn out but, as I said earlier, the actual board has very dark purple pips that appear nearly black to the naked eye under normal lighting......... unless you put in under very bright light.

Not complaining because it still looks good to me but if any potential buyer has set their minds on a lighter purple that looked like the pictures on Crisloid's website, they can always clarify and specifically request for the changes because almost everything can be customized to a customer's preference. Lucien over at Crisloid is very patient and responsive in working with customers over the configuration of their boards.

 

[Flat12]

I’m a crisloid fan.


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Beautiful. Love the rustic vintage look of those boards

 

[liftapint]

@Flat12 That set is totally gorgeous. I have never even played backgammon, and the beauty of your set makes me want to give it a try! So nice, congrats!!!

 

[Flat12]

What would be the Paulson equivalent? I’d look it up, but I assume it’s like looking up the best poker chips online, all crappy mass-produced stuff that you quickly realize is garbage.

Along with BGinGa's advice in the forum archives, I also found this primer from New England BGC to be helpful.

https://nebackgammon.org/index.php/backgammon-sets/

But darn....just look at all those beautiful sets. My fear is my Crisloid may turn out to be the first of several BG sets I pick up along the same lines of how I thought my first chipset will be end-all-be-all before that morph into several sets. Not even remotely near the insanity of the hardcore chippers at PCF but certainly enough to drive my wife bonkers

 

[Flat12]

Love these sets. I used to play a lot in college but then moved and it’s not a game many play down here. Dominos filled in the gap but I miss a good backgammon partner.

I play mostly against eXtreme Gammon 2, which will kick my ass depending on the level I got it set.

There are not enough human enthusiasts in my neck of the woods for some regular face-to-face action and my wife is just hopeless at games.

Thankfully, I have always been a longtime computer gamer and simulations enthusiast, so playing against neural nets or other online players is an option. The really cool thing about having a physical board is I can roll the dice and move the pieces manually and set this as a surrogate for eXtreme Gammon to accept manual dice rolls so that it can play back at me as my computer partner.

 

[hypnox]

Handmade Mahogany and calf leather outter panels.

 

[grebe]

Love the game, taught myself how to play from Yahoo back in the day. I have played very little live, but it could be a game to pull me away from poker if more people played.

Thanks for the pics.

 

[BGinGA]

Homemade Mahogany and calf leather outter panels.
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Very nice work.