Stories
Why the Circular Backgammon
Every collection begins somewhere.
This one began with a circle.
Not because it was the easiest form.
But because it was the most natural answer to the question that shaped Entre Rumbos from the beginning:
What makes an object worth passing on?
The circle has no beginning and no end.
It belongs to no single culture, period, or tradition.
Across centuries, it has represented continuity.
Connection.
Return.
Gathering.
Unlike objects designed to be admired from a distance, a circle invites participation.
It creates a shared center.
A space where people meet as equals.
A space where stories, conversations, and memories can unfold.
For Entre Rumbos, the circle became the natural starting point.
Not as a symbol.
As a function.
A way of bringing people together.
As the idea evolved, another discovery emerged.
Among the countless objects created throughout history, very few have survived the passage of time while remaining part of everyday life.
One of them is backgammon.
The game that ultimately became the foundation of The Circular Backgammon.
Backgammon is one of the oldest continuously played games in the world.
For centuries, it has traveled across cultures, generations, and continents.
Part strategy.
Part chance.
Part conversation.
Its endurance comes not only from the game itself, but from its ability to bring people together around a shared experience.
The Circular Backgammon is a contemporary interpretation of backgammon.
In The Original Edition, its form, materials, and proportions have been reimagined, while the game itself remains unchanged.
It is played exactly as it has been for centuries.
The object is new.
The ritual is timeless.
The more we explored its history, the more we realized that what interested us was not the game itself.
It was what happened around it.
The conversation between moves.
The silence between words.
The ritual of sitting across from another person and sharing time without distraction.
The game provided a structure.
But the experience extended far beyond it.
At its essence, the game is simple.
Two players.
Fifteen pieces each.
A journey across the board guided by both strategy and chance.
The objective is to bring every piece home before your opponent does.
Yet the enduring appeal of the game has never been found in its rules alone.
It lies in the balance between planning and uncertainty.
Skill and luck.
Patience and instinct.
Every move reveals something.
Not only about the game.
But about the person sitting across from you.
For centuries, that balance has kept people returning to the table.
Not simply to play.
But to connect.
To compete.
To learn.
To spend time together.
In that sense, the game became a natural expression of everything Entre Rumbos sought to explore from the beginning.
Running through the object is a single red thread.
A quiet detail.
Easy to overlook.
Yet impossible to ignore once noticed.
It serves as a reminder that every journey is marked by choices.
By crossings.
By moments that separate one chapter from the next.
The thread is not a boundary.
It is a passage.
A visible expression of the invisible connections that inspired Entre Rumbos from the beginning.
The same connections that travel between people, places, memories, and generations.
The Original Edition is the first edition of The Circular Backgammon and the first material expression of that idea.
The first attempt to transform a question into an object.
The first chapter of an ongoing journey.
Every detail was chosen with intention.
The circle.
The materials.
The stones.
The wood.
The red thread.
Together they form more than a game.
They form an object designed to gather stories over time.
Like all meaningful objects, its value will not come from the day it was created.
But from the life it lives afterward.
The hands that touch it.
The homes it inhabits.
The conversations it witnesses.
The memories it quietly collects.
Each piece is individually numbered.
Not to emphasize scarcity.
But to acknowledge origin.
A reminder that every story begins somewhere.
The Original Edition matters not simply because it is first, but because it marks the moment The Circular Backgammon first entered the world.
The Original Edition is the first edition of The Circular Backgammon: a handcrafted collectible object made in Mexico in a limited series of individually numbered pieces. Available by private reservation only.