Backgammon is one of the oldest board games still played today, with roots tracing back thousands of years to the ancient Near East. At KIZIMA®, we make backgammon pieces and boards from genuine Baltic amber — a material that is, in its own way, even older than the game itself. Each piece began forming in ancient forests millions of years ago, long before anyone rolled a die.
A Game Older Than Most Civilizations
Versions of backgammon-style games have been found in archaeological digs across Mesopotamia, Persia, and the Roman world. The combination of strategy and chance has kept it popular across cultures and centuries, evolving into the checkered board and doubling cube familiar today. Pairing that history with amber, itself formed over 30 to 40 million years ago, brings together two very different kinds of age in a single object.
Why Amber Suits a Game Board
Baltic amber has a warmth of color and a natural translucency that makes each checker piece slightly different from the next. No two pieces of amber are identical, so a set made from it carries small variations in tone and clarity — something a mass-produced acrylic or bakelite set cannot offer. It also has a pleasant weight and a smooth, cool-to-the-touch surface that many players notice the first time they pick up a piece.
Handmade in Brooklyn
Every KIZIMA® backgammon and checkers piece is cut, shaped, and polished by hand in our Brooklyn workshop. As the only Baltic amber manufacturer in America, we work directly with raw amber rather than pre-made components, which means we can select stones for color and clarity piece by piece. The result is a set that plays like any other backgammon set, but looks and feels distinctly different on the table.
A Gift With Some Weight to It
Amber backgammon pieces make a natural gift for collectors, for anyone who already owns a backgammon board, or for someone who appreciates objects with a bit of history behind them. They pair well with a wooden or bamboo board and hold up to regular play far better than many people expect from a natural material.
You can see our current backgammon and checkers pieces, along with the rest of the collection, at kizima.us.
