Player of backgammon, Bronze bench monument in Yerevan, Armenia

Player of Backgammon is a bronze sculpture in Yerevan showing a seated figure focused on a game of backgammon at a small table. The piece functions as a public bench, so visitors can sit beside the figure in the open air.

The idea for the monument came from students of the Kurazh production course at the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinema, after their teacher Ruben Djaghinyan asked them to design and realise sculptures. One student proposed a backgammon player, which sculptor Eduard Shahikyan cast in bronze. The monument was unveiled on 4 November 2007 on Gevorg Kochar Street, by the Hrachya Kaplanyan Drama Theatre, after being hidden under a box shaped like a playing die.

Backgammon is a daily fixture in Yerevan, played by men on street corners, in parks, and outside cafés on portable boards. The sculpture captures one of these ordinary moments and places it permanently in the streetscape.

The sculpture stands in a public area of Yerevan and can be visited at any time without restriction. Anyone who wants to stop can simply sit down beside the figure and watch the street life around them.

The table in front of the figure is part of the sculpture itself, shaped so that a real player could sit across from it and actually play. This turns the work into an open invitation rather than just an object to look at.