Donated to the collection in 1983, the photograph at the left is a chess board made of styrofoam - a type of soft, spongy plastic. However, this is a multi-game board, for on the reverse side is a backgammon board.
The game was manufactured by Pacific Western, whose name appears in the center of the board. The game was purchased by the donor on a trip in Mexico in 1982.
The board is 25.7cm x 19.3cm wide. In the white square in the lower right of the matrix are the words "Travel Games".
The player pieces are 16 pink and 16 turquoise with black silhouettes of standard chess pieces pained on one side. The 32 pieces are each 1.5cm in diameter and about .2cm thick.
Since both the board and the pieces are made of styrofoam, when the pieces are placed on squares of the matrix - they stick to a square! Thus, if traveling and there is vibration from the movement of a vehicle, the pieces would not move on the board until moved by the players.
The reverse sides of the 32 pieces are blank and can be used on the reverse side of the board to play backgammon.
Last update February 24, 2010