The 9 Best Chess, Checkers and Backgammon Sets I'd Actually Buy in 2026
Three games in one box, ranked by how they play: board size, king height, and which pieces stay put in a moving car.
| Image | Pick | Product | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Best overall | Pointworks 17 Inch Chess Checkers Backgammon Set for adults | Price |
 | Best travel board | 3 | Price |
 | Best magnetic set | Woodronic Magnetic Chess Checkers Backgammon Set | Price |
 | Best family set | GOTHINK Wooden Chess | Price |
 | Best storage case | Spin Master Games Cardinal Classics Chess | Price |
 | Best bare-bones wood | 3 | Price |
 | Best gift for kids | 3 in 1 Reversible Magnetic Wooden Chess | Price |
 | Best first set | Joneytech 11.5 Inch Magnetic Wooden Chess Checkers Backgamm… | Price |
 | Best for teaching | Pressman Chess / Checkers / Backgammon | Price |
The Pointworks 17 inch set is my top pick. It's the only set in this group that pairs a maple and walnut inlay board and a solid acacia frame with weighted chess pieces, and it opens to 17 inches instead of 11.5. Three games, one folding wooden box, and pieces heavy enough that a bumped table doesn't wreck the position.
Nine sets follow. Most are 11.5 inch folding wooden boxes with 32 chessmen and 30 checkers, and most will do the job for a decade. The things that separate them are board size, king height, and whether the pieces are magnetic. Just one listing here publishes a king height at all.
How I picked these
I started with size, because size is the spec nobody advertises and everybody notices. US Chess puts a tournament king at 3.375 to 4.5 inches tall with a base around 75 to 80 percent of the square, on squares between 2 and 2.5 inches. Eight squares at 2 inches is 16 inches of playing surface before any border, so a board has to open to roughly 17 inches to get close. An 11.5 inch board can't, no matter how nice the wood is.
Materials came second. Inlay (squares cut and set into the wood) beats printing, every time. Solid wood beats veneer over cardboard. Felt or leather on the underside of a piece tells you whether the maker was thinking about the playing surface or just the box.
Storage came third, and it's the one that decides whether you still have 30 checkers in two years. I looked at what holds the pieces shut: a metal clasp, a magnetic catch, a friction fold, a case. Then magnetic hold, but only where the listing actualy says which pieces are magnetic, because more than one of these sets magnetizes the chessmen and leaves the checkers loose. If you're narrowing this down to the two-game pairing instead, the best chess and checkers set page covers that angle.
And one honesty note. I haven't unboxed any of these. What I've done is read the specs line by line and read what buyers say after a few months, which is where the real complaints live.
1. Pointworks 17 Inch Chess Checkers Backgammon Set for adults
On paper this is the only serious set here. Walnut and maple inlay, a solid acacia frame, weighted chess pieces, acrylic checkers and dice, and a folding two-sided board that opens to 17 inches. Inlay means the squares are cut and set into the surface rather than printed onto it, and that's the difference between a board that survives twenty years of club nights and one that doesn't.
Here's my reservation. The listing never publishes a king height or a square size, and those are the first two numbers I'd check. At 17 inches open you're in the neighborhood of 2 inch squares once the border comes off, but I can't confirm it from the page. Acrylic checkers next to a walnut inlay is also a mismatch I'd notice every game.
What owners say: the weight of the chessmen and the finish on the inlay are what buyers mention first. The checkers and dice come up second, usually as the thing they'd upgrade.
Good for: a set that lives on a table and gets played weekly. Skip it if: you need the king height confirmed before you commit.
Fifteen inches, a leather playing surface, a carry handle, and a fold that keeps everything inside. The detail that separates it from the 11.5 inch crowd is the pair of extra queens, which means pawn promotion doesn't turn into a rummage through the box mid-game. Acrylic chessmen and checkers, polished, and a board that closes into something you carry like a briefcase.
The concession: leather over a folding core is a surface, not a solid wood board, and acrylic is acrylic. If you want the click of wood under a knight, this won't give it to you. If you want a set that goes to the pub and comes home with all 32 pieces, it will.
What owners say: people who buy folding leather boards talk about the handle and the storage more than the play, and the two extra queens is the sort of detail buyers single out.
Good for: a set that leaves the house and needs to come back complete. Skip it if: you want wood on wood.
3. Woodronic Magnetic Chess Checkers Backgammon Set
Magnetic is doing real work here. Solid wood pieces with magnetic cores, a suede roll-up board, a leatherette case, and enough grip that a bumpy ride doesn't scatter the position. Roll-up means it packs smaller than any folding box on this list.
Two problems. A roll-up board needs a flat, clean table, and suede collects grit, so a picnic blanket is a bad idea. There's also no rigid edge to stop a piece sliding off the end. And the listing gives no board size and no king height, so you're buying the magnetic concept rather than a measured board.
What owners say: magnetic sets live or die on hold strength, and the complaints that show up are always about pieces that grip fine on a table and creep on a train tray.
Good for: cars, planes, camping, anyone who has lost a knight to a floor vent. Skip it if: you want a board that sits flat on its own.
11.4 by 11.2 inches open, solid wood, FSC certified timber, and it clears both EN71 and ASTM toy safety testing. In the box: 32 chessmen, 30 backgammon and checker pieces, two pairs of dice, and a doubling cube. The doubling cube is the giveaway that someone at the company actualy plays backgammon, since most 3-in-1 sets at this size forget it.
The catch is arithmetic. At 11.4 inches open, minus the border, the chess squares are nowhere near 2 inches, and the listing gives outside dimensions only. It's a family board, not a tournament board, and pretending otherwise would be silly.
What owners say: parents mention the toy safety certification, and they like that one box covers all three games without substitutions.
Good for: a house with kids and a rule about screen time. Skip it if: an adult plays serious chess on it.
5. Spin Master Games Cardinal Classics Chess
- Includes: 32 Chess Pieces, 30 Backgammon/Checker Pieces, 2 Dice, Instructions, Wooden Storage Case/Gameboard
- Three Classic Games At A Great Price: Comes with everything you need to play Chess, Checkers, and Backgammon
- High Quality Wood: Gameboard doubles as a convenient storage case
The board is the box. A wooden gameboard that doubles as a storage case, with 32 chess pieces, 30 backgammon and checker pieces, two dice and instructions. Cardinal Classics has been making this shape of set for years, and the format works because there's nothing loose to lose.
The concession is thin documentation. No open dimensions, no king height, no piece material beyond wood for the board. You're buying a known brand and a storage format rather than a measured product, which is fine for a shelf set and frustrating if you like numbers.
What owners say: the storage case is the appeal. The recurring note is that the pieces are fine for casual play and light for anyone who counts grams.
Good for: a family that needs one box on a shelf and no missing pieces. Skip it if: you want specs before you spend.
11.5 inches, solid wood, folding, polished, with magnetic chess pieces. That's the entire pitch, and at this size the hinge is the part that matters, because a weak hinge is what makes a travel set annoying by year two.
Here's the catch: only the chessmen are magnetic. The checkers and backgammon pieces are loose. The listing's line about it being a perfect travel set for cars applies to exactly one of the three games, and backgammon on a highway is a bad plan.
What owners say: owners of small magnetic sets talk about the hinge and the clasp more than the pieces, because that's the part that fails first.
Good for: chess on the go with the other two games at home. Skip it if: you plan to play backgammon in a moving vehicle.
A reversible wooden board, 32 magnetic chessmen, 30 checkers and backgammon pieces, two dice, an instruction manual, and a fold down to 5.73 by 11.45 by 1.19 inches. Open, it measures 11.46 by 11.45. The king is 2.03 inches tall, which makes this the only set in the whole list that publishes a king height.
And 2.03 inches is the problem. US Chess guidance starts at 3.375 inches for a tournament king, so this is a table set for kids, not a board you'd take to a club. The listing also calls the magnetic pull light, which is honest and also a warning.
What owners say: parents mention the size, the storage and the printed manual. Nobody claims it plays like a full board.
Good for: a first set for a six year old. Skip it if: an adult is the main player.
8. Joneytech 11.5 Inch Magnetic Wooden Chess Checkers Backgammon Set for…
11.5 inches open, folding to 11.5 by 5.75, with a metal clasp, a carved pattern around the edge, and letters and numbers printed on the board so a beginner can follow a real game. Magnetic chess pieces, plus checkers, backgammon pieces and dice.
The concession is the same one that hits half this list: the checkers and backgammon pieces aren't magnetic, and the listing says so plainly. Coordinates on an 11.5 inch board also eat space that squares would otherwise get, so the playing area is smaller than the outside measurement suggests.
What owners say: the coordinates get mentioned as the reason a kid can follow a real game, and the loose checkers get mentioned as the drawback.
Good for: teaching a child notation and keeping the chessmen on the board in the car. Skip it if: you want all three games to survive a bump.
9. Pressman Chess / Checkers / Backgammon
- For 2 players, ages 8 and up
- Three classic games included in one set - ideal for both the novice and experienced player!
- A great addition to your game collection
- The perfect set for teaching the next generation of players
Three games, one double-sided board, 30 plastic interlocking checkers, full size Staunton chess pieces, dice and instructions, rated for ages 8 and up. The interlocking checkers are a genuinely smart piece of design in a house with small kids, because stacked checkers don't slide off the table mid-game.
Concession: plastic checkers, and a board whose material the listing never names. This is the set you buy when the priority is three games in one box for a family that will outgrow it, not the set you hand down to a nephew. If you want to see what proper Staunton proportions look like before you settle, the best Staunton chess sets page is where to compare.
What owners say: the teaching angle is why people buy it, and the interlocking checkers get called out as the sturdiest part of the set.
Good for: a first family set with kids under 10. Skip it if: an adult wants wood.
What actually matters when you buy a 3-in-1 chess, checkers and backgammon set
Board size when open beats every other spec. Eight 2 inch squares is 16 inches of playing surface. Add a border and you're at 17 to 19 inches open. That's why the 17 inch Pointworks is the only set here that can approach tournament proportions, and why an 11.5 inch set is a toy-scale board even when the wood is real.
King height, and nobody publishes it. US Chess guidance is 3.375 to 4.5 inches with a base around 75 to 80 percent of the square. The Zeekoonch's 2.03 inch king is the only published figure in this whole list, and it tells you exactly what that set is for. If a listing won't tell you the king height, assume it's small.
Which pieces are magnetic. On the CGOPNEAG, Joneytech and Zeekoonch sets, only the chessmen hold. Checkers and backgammon are the games with dice and loose discs flying around, so those are precisely the pieces that need magnets in a car. If you're weighing the two-game pairing instead of three, the best chess and backgammon set page lays that out.
Material, inlay versus print versus leather versus suede. Inlay is cut squares set into a wood field. Printed is ink on wood or board. Leather is a surface over a folding core. Suede rolls up and collects grit. All four play, and only one of them still looks right after a decade of use on an 17 inch board.
Storage and the hinge. A full set is roughly 32 chessmen plus 30 checkers plus two dice plus a doubling cube, which is 65 pieces to keep contained. If the fold doesn't hold them, you lose a checker inside a month. A metal clasp beats a friction catch every time, and the Joneytech is the only one here that spells that out.
Side by side
Specs below come straight from the listings. If you only want one of the three games, the best checkers set page handles that separately.
| Set | Key spec | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Pointworks 17 inch | 17 inch open, walnut and maple inlay, solid acacia frame, weighted pieces | Best overall |
| Kvintes 15 inch | 15 inch folding leather board, carry handle, 2 extra queens | Best travel board |
| Woodronic magnetic | Roll-up suede board, solid wood pieces with magnetic cores, leatherette case | Best magnetic set |
| GOTHINK 11.4 inch | 11.4 x 11.2 open, solid wood, FSC certified, doubling cube included | Best family set |
| Spin Master Cardinal Classics | Wooden gameboard doubles as storage case, 32 chessmen, 30 pieces | Best storage case |
| CGOPNEAG 11.5 inch | 11.5 inch solid wood fold, magnetic chessmen only | Best bare-bones wood |
| Zeekoonch 11.5 inch | 2.03 inch king, folds to 5.73 x 11.45 x 1.19 inches | Best gift for kids |
| Joneytech 11.5 inch | Folds to 11.5 x 5.75 inches, metal clasp, board coordinates | Best first set |
| Pressman 3 in 1 | 30 interlocking checkers, full size Staunton pieces, ages 8 and up | Best for teaching |
Which one I'd buy
If the set stays home and adults do most of the playing, buy the Pointworks 17 inch. It's the only one here with inlay and weighted pieces in the same box, and the size is the difference between a board and a toy.
If it travels every week, buy the Kvintes 15 inch. The handle and the two extra queens are small things that matter on a Tuesday night when someone promotes a pawn.
If a seven year old is the main player, buy the Zeekoonch for the 2.03 inch king and the printed manual, or the Pressman if you want interlocking checkers that survive being dropped. And if you want wood that looks like furniture rather than a folding box, read the Manopoulos chess backgammon set review for the tier above everything on this page.
Questions people ask me
Are 3-in-1 chess, checkers and backgammon sets big enough to actually play on?
Most of them open to about 11.5 inches, which is fine for casual games and kids and cramped for two adults. Eight 2 inch squares need 16 inches of playing surface before you add a border, so look for 17 inches open or more if you want real proportions.
Do the magnetic pieces work for checkers and backgammon too?
Often not. Several sets in this list magnetize only the chessmen, and the checkers and backgammon pieces stay loose in the box. Read the feature list closely if you plan to play in a car or on a plane.
What king height should I look for in a chess set?
US Chess guidance is a king between 3.375 and 4.5 inches tall with a base about 75 to 80 percent of the square. Most folding sets never publish a king height, and the one here that does, the Zeekoonch, comes in at 2.03 inches.