This boardsport has adherents throughout the world, but for obvious reasons tends to be most prevalent in desert areas, or coastal areas with beach dunes.

It is less popular than snowboarding, partly because it is very difficult to build a mechanized ski lift on a sand dune, and so participants must walk back to the top of the dune after every run or ride a dune buggy or 4 wheel drive back to the top. On the other hand, dunes are normally available all year round with numerous locations compared to winter-only snow sports.

Peru is well known for having large sand dunes in Ica, some reaching up to 2 km while Argentina has possibly the tallest in the world. Sand Master Park, located in Florence, Oregon USA is the world’s first sandboard park with 40 acres (160,000 m²) of private sculpted sand dunes and a full-time pro shop. A rather small sand mountain is the Monte Kaolino in Hirschau, Germany. Being equipped with a lift to the 120m top it is also the host of the annual Sandboarding World Championships.

Josh Tenge, professional sandboarding champion, owns the Guinness Book of World Records entry for the longest-distance back flip at 44′ 10″. Tenge is also a four-time world sandboarding champion and holds three world records.