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Who's up for a Cozy Backgammon Game?

I used to think that the basic design of the backgammon board did not change much during all those centuries the game has been played, that it always consisted of 24 triangles, was divided into 4 quadrants, divided by the bar in the middle and with each player's home boards and outer boards faced one another.

Tabula (ancient backgammon) board from the 13th century

16th century backgammon board (detail from The Triumph of Death by Breuigel)

Apparently, I was wrong making the last assumption. Backgammon players did not always face each other. In 1950s-1960s, backgammon was commonly played on buses, trains and planes, with the players sit next to each other, what required readaptation of the board design.

The backgammon board was wider and shorter, about a normal quadrant long; all the 24 triangles pointed at a same direction, and two dividers separated between the players' quadrants. It also changed the way backgammon was played. The direction of the checkers was no longer around the board, but around half of the board. Something like that:

Getting used to it takes awhile but I'd bet it offers some advantages

By the way, the picture of the backgammon board design was taken from the Cincinnati Backgammon Players Club website, which features, on top of information relevant mainly to the backgammon club members, a very extensive introduction to backgammon including probability charts, pip counting techniques and other useful info for beginners.