Board Games & Toys | Chess Sets and Puzzles

Games that are allowed to stay out

Most board games disappear into a cupboard after one evening, usually because the box is too ugly to leave in sight. The games in this collection are meant to be seen. They are carefully designed and made from good materials: wood, linen or heavily lacquered card. That turns the game into an object and into something that adds to the room. A good-looking board game or chess set on the table tends to start a conversation, and it makes it far more likely that the game actually gets played.

Chess, backgammon and other classics

From Printworks there are chess sets in several versions, from a classic wooden board to one with mirrored pieces, and alongside those backgammon, poker and four-in-a-row. From MoMA there is a set that combines chess and draughts in one board. The wooden games by Remember take a more playful approach, with Halma, Shut the Box, Solitaire and the dexterity game Stickado in the bright colours the brand is known for.

Puzzles with a cover image as the picture

The puzzles by the New York Puzzle Company use existing images rather than artwork drawn for the purpose: covers of The New Yorker, photographs from National Geographic, fashion images from old issues of Vogue, and vintage travel posters. Usually 1000 pieces, sometimes 500 or 1500. These are images it seems a shame to put back in the box, and that deserve a place on the wall.

Cyclists as playing pieces

The hand-painted miniature cyclists by Bernard & Eddy are not a game in themselves, but they make excellent playing pieces. Use them in a game of snakes and ladders or any other board game where you work your way along a course, and the game gains character straight away. Each rider wears a different jersey, from the yellow and the green to the polka dot, so every player has their own figure. Off the board they simply stay on the shelf.

Wooden toys by Floris Hovers

Ikonic makes toys designed by Floris Hovers: wooden cars that are unmistakably cars despite being built from a few planes and two colours, a yellow crane, a set of animals and the Archiblocks building set. It is toy that children play with and adults put on display. The designer's hand is immediately recognisable in the typical shapes and colours.