Lighting a board from its own perimeter is the upgrade players notice fastest. The whole face is evenly lit before you reach the oche, with no shadow across the beds and no glare coming back off the wires.

A perimeter light removes both. Lighting the board from its own edge means it is already lit before you reach the oche — no shadow, no glare off the wiring, and the doubles at the bottom read as clearly as the ones at the top.

Even coverage matters more than raw brightness, and a ring lights every bed identically where a single fixture never will. Several systems mount magnetically to the board's own steel ring, so nothing goes into the wall and the light lifts off in seconds when the board needs turning. Illuminated surrounds combine both jobs in one component.