Backgammon is one of our oldest games, a classic war waged between two groups at play: strategy and ingenuity. Another Kingdom by Bangkok-based artist Taras Yoom explores this age-old dynamic through handcrafted elements that transform play into performance art, game boards into beautiful objects. Yoom creates entire gaming universes categorizing his work into “planets,” each with its own personality and background. This boisterous set, which utilized multiple production techniques in its creation, now graces our space and time with a hyper-limited run of 21 boards. What’s more, each set includes an NFC chip, certifying its authenticity while recording its digital provenance.
The backgammon set offers a unique addition to Yoom’s world-famous chess collection. While the inside houses a gaming area and corresponding pieces, its case is strategically unique in adornment with metal balls that sit in various tracks – seemingly sporadic yet strangely satisfying. From detailed 3D printing with photopolymer plastic, to molding, sculpting, polymer casting, and even paint detailing, these pieces feel right at home in the hand.
“Backgammon carries a raw energy – a fusion of risk, tempo, and thrill that flows into the player. Each decision blends strategy with emotion and the unpredictability of chance. This piece embodies that volatility and movement, tracing how fate unfolds with every roll,” Yoom explains.
With hints at the realities of conflict, like swords stationed across the board, the effect is far from warlike. Dreamy pastels work in conjunction with splashes of bold hues like orange and cobalt creating a beautifully balanced board, hand finished to temper its more industrial elements.
“I felt like an art and my passion for design began to conquer my soul, constantly allowing me to experiment and invent something new. From the very beginning,” Yoom adds. “I knew that it would be the continuous experiment with the visual functionality of everyday objects that can change a person’s attitude to familiar things.”
Every detail, from the curvature of the case to the way the pieces start their rows, tells of Yoom’s background: a self-described obsession with scientific and medical studies that informs his work, and a continual supply by new discoveries regarding man’s biology. A deep understanding of nature and its systems persists. Even among the surreal, elements from organic systems abound in his work, proposing deeper questions than the game: how can visual cues work in concert with biofeedback to create more immersive play?
Priced at $17,000, the limited edition collector’s Another Kingdom set is available for order online at yoomoota.com and is set to premiere at PAD London 2025 from October 14 to 19.
Photography courtesy of Tara Yoom.