I would worry about the app being discontinued or just plain breaking inside of 5 or 10 years. This device is far too expensive to rely entirely on a mobile app.

@loginregional

11 ай бұрын

Even if the apocalypse starts, you can still play MANUALLY. YMMV

@spudhead169

11 ай бұрын

When things like this get to enough popularity and distribution the guys over at XDA typically reverse engineer them to provide an alternative. This might not gain enough following for that though, but one can always buy a unit and agree to send it to a guru over there, they're always looking for something to hack.

@SenkJu

11 ай бұрын

I suppose there is no reason why it would stop working entirely. The online aspect might not be available forever but I'm pretty sure the calculations when playing against a bot are performed on the phone itself. Edit: And since it's connecting via Wifi, someone might reverse engineer the protocol and provide an alternative app when the official one stops working (assuming this thing becomes popular enough for some kind of community to form around it).

@snerttt

11 ай бұрын

As long as the app doesn't require Internet that's not really an issue. Personally, I'd just dedicate an old phone to this device

@user-qf6yt3id3w

11 ай бұрын

Yeah, it's a very irritating trend in consumer electronics to be tied to an app which will break when there's a binary compatibility breaking change to Android. Which happens pretty regularly.

Only Techmoan could point out that he might get some money from sales of this product, and then promptly publicize a competitor! Good on you, mate!

@mattwuk

11 ай бұрын

This is why he has such a massive following, he's a genuine North West lad

As someone who played some chess when I was younger, I would love a physical board that could just automatically play AI vs AI games all day without interruption that could just be left on a coffee table or such. I would enjoy being able to watch two computer players compete and learn techniques by osmosis whenever the board distracts me with its gameplay.

@kevinmeville2631

11 ай бұрын

Now this is the killer update they need.

@daviddavidson2357

11 ай бұрын

Get a 3d printer and hack it to play chess. Not too difficult. Magnets on top of the pieces in a bed slinger or on the bottom of the pieces in a core x-y, small electromagnet attached to the extruder to move the pieces.

@Audiorevue

6 ай бұрын

​@@daviddavidson2357That's not necessarily the point is it, a lot of people just want a finished product that they can purchase and that does exactly what it is they want it to do. I mean I can cobble a bunch of motorcycle parts together and make something that's kind of like a Harley, but at the end of the day it's not going to be a Harley, you see what I mean

I think they missed a trick with the taken pieces. Assuming it's an electro-magnet that moves the pieces, then for taken pieces they should reverse the polarity, send about 100amps through the magnet for a few milliseconds and that would shoot the taken pieces off the board completely. Effective and fun.

@More_Row

11 ай бұрын

Dude , yes. That would be hilarious

@Mattsavage69

11 ай бұрын

Except you would be made to wear safety glasses because of litigation.

@volvo09

11 ай бұрын

I don't think it's an electromagnet, just a standard magnet moved up and down.

@plapbandit

11 ай бұрын

@@Mattsavage69 Engaging Safety Squints™

@findmeinthefuture.

11 ай бұрын

Do it to all the game pieces at once so the AI can do the equivalent of flipping the board in frustration.

Insane that such an expensive device requires the use of an app AND needs a monthly subscription to unlock all the features.

@hanspecans

11 ай бұрын

Just an instant NO THANKS on this device.

@mark100net1

6 ай бұрын

I'm sure if it cost twice as much you would enjoy whining that much more. Because if it didn't require an app it would cost twice as much. Because then it would need to be built with a computer/screen, like the Chessnut Evo, which, surprise, costs about twice as much.

@marcusborderlands6177

16 күн бұрын

​@@mark100net1a literal raspberry pi zero could run this device dude. That's a 5 dollar ACTUAL computer.

@mark100net1

15 күн бұрын

@@marcusborderlands6177 What does that have to do with it? Did you read the OP? With a raspberry pi an app would still be required.

"I could challenge friends...if I had any friends." Love that line.

@andreasu.3546

11 ай бұрын

Bit sad though, hope it's not actually true.

@Daijyobanai

11 ай бұрын

know your audience, eh?

@VoidHalo

11 ай бұрын

I can relate. I've posed myself the task recently of creating AI programs to play board games with me. Like Settlers of Catan. I know they have computer versions with AI, but my programming skills are weak and I figure this would be a great way to improve them.

@NinjaPhooka

11 ай бұрын

Relatable...

Agreed Matt, the device relying on an app makes it much more difficult to trust. It feels like a short term novelty rather than a long term investment.

@michealpersicko9531

11 ай бұрын

The first Kickstarter was popular enough that Square Off had enough money to make a revised model should be enough of a hint that something like this is a long term investment.

"Want to play chess?" "It's going to be a few minutes the board has an update" What a time to be alive

@roachdoggjr1940

9 ай бұрын

The EA Chess Board. Battle passes starting at $9.99.

I know $300 for this thing is probably the cheapest they could've made it, cutting tons of corners, but I feel like a ghost chess machine is by necessity a luxury item. So it's insane to me that it comes with a sharp piezo speaker that beeps like an old microwave. I have a toaster oven that sounds more pleasant than this thing.

@NighttimeJuneau

7 ай бұрын

True, it sounds like my rice cooker. And how generous that the app allows customising the sound, I expected he could change the sound itself there but no, it’s just when it’s heard or when it’s disabled entirely.

One minute you're playing chess against a robot, the next you're fighting Skynet

@MrJ0mmy

11 ай бұрын

😃

@jmalmsten

11 ай бұрын

Remember that according to the first Tron, MCP started out as a chess program. :)

@keith_5584

11 ай бұрын

Bad news if your a grand master, Skynet will likely only keep around players it can beat for fun.

@keith_5584

11 ай бұрын

Also Greetings Professor Faulken

@jmalmsten

11 ай бұрын

@@keith_5584 I want to play Global Thermonuclear Warfare. Heheh. I rewatched that film only yesterday Also. Keeping humans alive for morbid fun, that gets us into the territory of I have No Mouth And I Must Scream.

One advantage of having a companion app is that they could actually implement your idea about the different kind of sounds instead of just beeps. They can (and should) update the app with an option to play sound effects from the app instead of the onboard beeper. Not just for clarity with different sound effects or TTS, but also because the board doesn't have earphone support.

@hungryhedgehog4201

11 ай бұрын

the microwave noises are honestly a turnoff

@keiyakins

11 ай бұрын

a companion app makes a ton of sense for this, since it needs to connect to the various internet chess servers anyway. It'd be nice if it had a basic AI built into the board, but thats not a huge problem.

@DPedroBoh

11 ай бұрын

I worry about it being discontinued turning your expensive thing into a regular chess board. Would be great if you can host a match locally in the phone without internet conection.

@chaos.corner

11 ай бұрын

Those beeps are unbelievably awful in a product from the 2020s.

@GYTCommnts

11 ай бұрын

It could be totally optional. You could have basic functionality without the app, and the rest of the options (playing with other people, etc.) if you use the app.

for those curious about the robot arm and happen to be reading the comments: it's like a corexy 3d printer mechanism, belt driven with motors in the corners. making your own with a glass bed & grbl is a neat idea, practically doable!

@0LoneTech

11 ай бұрын

And here I was expecting an etch-a-sketch style mechanism ;)

@chaos.corner

11 ай бұрын

Is that definitely this one or the old one? I was thinking the circle on the base might indicate something polar-coordinate based.

@jpdemer5

11 ай бұрын

@@0LoneTech It is, basically, Etch-a-Sketch, but with stepper motors.

@andymouse

11 ай бұрын

Yeah I noticed that too and got me wondering about the mech.@@chaos.corner

@filipzaf5631

11 ай бұрын

@@0LoneTech im pretty sure the etch-a-sketch does use a corexy mechanism too

As cool as the tech is, it kind of defeats the object of a calm game of chess away from your bloody phone when you need the phone screen right there in front of you. But i guess that's the horrible future we live in where you need a phone to do basic day to day tasks like paying, using a train ticket, amusement park ticket etc Made me remember battle chess on the pc haha

@CARLiCON

11 ай бұрын

Exactly, then constantly being interrupted with texts, notifications, & warnings to f-up your concentration..

@Jehty_

11 ай бұрын

But you don't need your phone during the game. What are you talking about? Just start the game and put your phone away. (edit: forgot that you also need the phone for promotion)

Needing the app is a deal breaker for me. It's less the fear of the app going obsolete and more the annoyance of needing to get my phone to play chess. If I'm sitting down to a physical board to play chess, it's to get away from my phone/computer, not bring it along for a playdate.

@Jehty_

11 ай бұрын

You just need the phone to start the game. Seriously, how is that a problem for you? Are you one of those people who can't not look at their phone if it's in the same room as them?

@mechadeka

11 ай бұрын

I'm curious how you thought you were going to go online and match make without some sort of screen.

@Nightenstaff

11 ай бұрын

@@Jehty_ Quite the opposite. I don't carry my phone with me every second of every day. I never carry it around my house. I get home, I put it on the table with my keys and don't pick it back up until I go somewhere.

@thesteelrodent1796

11 ай бұрын

@@Jehty_ no, the robot uses the phone (or rather the app on the phone) to calculate its moves. Without it, this is just an ordinary chess board. It can't do anything on its own

@Jehty_

11 ай бұрын

@@thesteelrodent1796 sorry if I wasn't clear enough. Of course the board needs your phone. But *you* don't need to look at your phone. You can just put your phone next to the board and don't look at it.

This thing reminds me of those "This is what the future will be like" books from the '70s and '80s except it isn't a massive robot arm (connected to a phone line for "international play" obviously) moving the pieces around

@35manning

11 ай бұрын

I think that would be so much cooler...

@TomKappeln

11 ай бұрын

Right ! Had also a book in the 70"s called "Future" ... Better watching "Demolition Man", it's more realistic ...

@meetoo594

11 ай бұрын

The 70s era book `Usbourne book of the future` had a remarkably similar device that used radio waves to play against remote players. That book was actually pretty spot on with a lot of its predictions including mmo`s, mobile phones and giant flatscreen tellys. There was a section in it that predicted the 2 ways the future could turn out depending on how we treated the environment, one was a clean utopia and the other a polluted dystopia. Guess which one was more accurate?.........

@plapbandit

11 ай бұрын

It's all good until the robot gets salty and tries to snap your arm. Or as has happened already, a 7 year old childs finger

@johnnymurgatroyd7393

11 ай бұрын

@@meetoo594 I think I remember owning that book as a kid (in the 90s). I remember the picture predicting electric cars, showing them lined up to get a whole new battery on a conveyor belt.

Imagine going to the park with this thing and when people who are not really into tech stuff notice pieces move by themselves telling them "Oh, I am just playing chess with my father's ghost."

@DeAthWaGer

11 ай бұрын

Even better, bring it into a retirement community and say you're playing with ex-occupants.

@SpoiledBadgerMilk

11 ай бұрын

or at the funeral one last game before the burial.

@loboptlu

11 ай бұрын

Who you gonna call?

@SpoiledBadgerMilk

11 ай бұрын

@loboptlu I know who you not gonna call: 1 800 ghostmolesters

@enyaisrave2831

11 ай бұрын

@@loboptlu Ghostbusters 😁

As a bit of feedback, for app connected device reviews, it would be worth documenting if the product works with internet disabled on your device and to what extent. You can backup an app, but if a company fails and the server goes down it can be game over.

It’ll probably need a new belt in the future.

@jeremiahchamberlin4499

11 ай бұрын

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

@TomKappeln

11 ай бұрын

He can't wait for sure. lol

@kushith

11 ай бұрын

In the future there will be someone making a video about replacing the belts in one of these only to realize the app doesn’t run on quantum os 9000.

I'm not very good at chess, but my Czech mate is.

@jeremiahchamberlin4499

11 ай бұрын

😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

Letting you customize the sounds would be awesome! Replace the "put down" with an actual wood-on-wood tap sound, a robotic f-bomb from your AI opponent on a win, a chiding "no" on an error... It could have been awesome. My guess is they used a fixed-frequency piezo beeper so they didn't have to fiddle about with sound processing at all, but they could have easily made the app capable of being the sound emitter.

I suggest they get an official Techmoan voice for their boards. I mean, it inspires confidence, down to earth and … he's Mat.

Back in the 1990s there was a chess system called the Tasc Smartboard. Although it did not move the pieces, it was a standalone system, or it could be hooked up to a PC to operate with other chess programs. It was stunningly beautiful, with the board and chess pieces made out of wood. The board had LED lights embedded in it, at each grid corner, to indicate the moves. The chess pieces had capacitive coils in them (pre-RFID), so that the board could identify what each piece was. It was a cool system, and a lot of fun. I still have my Tasc Smartboard, although it has not seen the light of day for many years. I really should take it out of storage, and see if it still works. Thanks for sharing this video!

@technoman9000

11 ай бұрын

That's more what I'd be interested in. Pitiful that it can't tell which piece of which, and requires an app and internet connection. This thing is a glorified smartphone accessory, unfortunately.

@mxbishop

11 ай бұрын

@@technoman9000 Unfortunately, I do not have a good dedicated space where I can set up, and leave out, my Tasc chessboard. So it stays in storage most of the time, rather than collecting dust in some corner of my room. Incidentally, the Dutch company that made the Tasc Smartboard was, more-or-less, sued out of business because of patent infringement involving their chess piece identification system. This perhaps explains why their products are only rarely seen nowadays.

@thesteelrodent1796

11 ай бұрын

think it was Atari (could be wrong on the make) that made a magnetic chess board - in the 80s or 90s - that had LEDs to tell you what to move where. It did everything internally and had different skill levels, but it was not a challenge for anyone who actually knew how to play chess, so it was more like a gimmick for kids than a proper chess game

@mxbishop

11 ай бұрын

@@thesteelrodent1796 The first computerized chessboards were pretty basic. I had a Fidelity Chess Challenger portable game, back in the 80s - and I could beat it as long as I was paying close attention. But I don't think I ever beat the Tasc Smartboard. Maybe once or twice. But I'm not a rated player, and the Tasc Smartboard is tough. The thing I discovered about computer chess programs is that they cannot be freaked-out by a provocative move. Whereas a human opponent might make a mistake after I make a dramatic and unexpected move, that simply does not happen with a chess program. So the elements of surprise and psychology are not present when playing a machine. Turns out that playing against a human is just more fun because of the unexpected things that can happen.

It's pretty cool, I'd probably prefer a wood version over a plastic version, but as you mentioned relying on a phone app is a deal breaker. They should try make a deal with the big online chess sites to be able to use this board as an interface.

@destroyerofsimps6574

10 ай бұрын

I think the Chessnut Evo is going to do something similar to what you're saying.

@TheStuffMade

10 ай бұрын

@@destroyerofsimps6574 Thanks, looks interesting.

@Houshalter

10 ай бұрын

The wood wouldn't work with the lights and would have to be pretty thin for the magnets to do their job. I've seen glass chess boards though and I could imagine that working.

@TheStuffMade

10 ай бұрын

@@Houshalter That's not true at all, I just tried a couple of tiny neodymium disc magnets (10mm diameter, 2mm thickness) on each side of a 15 mm thick board and no problem moving the magnet on top by moving the magnet on the bottom, they were strong enough that the bottom one is held in place and wouldn't fall off. You could even add an LED in the chess pieces themselves and use inductors to transfer a current to light them up, kind of like how you wirelessly charge your toothbrush, phone, watch etc. Cheers, Jake

Congrats on winning your first game. Glad you enjoyed it.

I can say I also enjoy these non-HiFi related gadgets. Be it vintage or retro. Please more of that! There's lots of stuff to explore in this area.

@loginregional

11 ай бұрын

FULL DISCLOSURE: Mat enticed me here originally with the Communicator episode, also featured in the outro. I stayed for the puppets, of course.

@goeland4585

11 ай бұрын

vintage or retro? aren't those one and the same? Or did you mean "new or retro"?

@lesliespeaker668

11 ай бұрын

@@goeland4585 retro means it's a style imitating something old or vintage. for example: That '70s Show is retro. so in case of electronics retro would be all these cheap record players you can buy today.

@thesteelrodent1796

11 ай бұрын

@@goeland4585 vintage is old stuff, retro is new stuff made to look old

@NickWeissMusic

3 ай бұрын

@@goeland4585vintage IS old, retro LOOKS old.

I agree with you, everything that relies on an app is relying on something variable. In my opinion these kind of devices should have a mandatory open source driver ready, not necessarily at launch but at least to be published if ever the company stops supporting the device, so at least it could be used with other programs, a pc or whatever and the customer doesn't just end up with a glorified piece of plastic.

@minigolfkid

11 ай бұрын

I’d replace the word ‘variable’ with ‘temporary’.

@thesteelrodent1796

11 ай бұрын

While I agree, unfortunately the reality is that you cannot demand someone releases their intellectual property. In order for that to change and be passed into law, it would also be required to make it illegal to make throw-away products, and until mankind grows up, that is never going to happen

@paul_boddie

11 ай бұрын

@@thesteelrodent1796 Recently, I read a commentary about software in the era before it was routinely sold as a commercial product separate from hardware, and it was apparently normal for people acquiring software to insist that the vendor put the source code in escrow in case the vendor disappeared or was not willing to maintain the software. So, longstanding mechanisms already exist to protect the interests of both the customer and the vendor. As for the sacred "intellectual property" of the vendor, the customer is paying for its development, and these days much of the software content will have been distributed under Free Software licences, allowing the vendor to take it into use. So, one would hope that the vendor respects any obligations associated with those licences, too.

@05Matz

9 ай бұрын

It's something we've got to fight for until we get it, then. @@thesteelrodent1796 Laws only change to follow overwhelming public demand.

Back in the late-1970s I had the Chess Challenger by Fidelity Electronics. It was extremely slow making moves in the intermediate and advanced levels, and it tended to move "ghost" pieces; I was always very careful not to move a pieces in the wrong square.

If they just added voice commands and moving the pieces you clicked on it would almost be an assistive device. :)

I made one with plexiglass sides on my prototyping course in university last year. A lovely project to work on and to see it working.

@hymefly

2 ай бұрын

Can you sell it to me

The pieces being accidentally knocked over looked hilariously aggressive. They should make it a feature for when the computer captures a piece. Like wizard chess.

@curiositycloset2359

11 ай бұрын

You know your old when you know that's a rip off of battle chess.

@johanneswerner1140

11 ай бұрын

Ooh, Battle Chess! That was fun to watch and play. And lose...

The beeps are pretty cheap and obnoxious sounding, they should put a better speaker in it and have pleasent and more meaningful sounds, that would improve the feeling of quality 100% for a relatively small upgrade.

another addition that might be nice: add a set of Magnet so you have your own figures. Shure, you could source your own magnets but it's nicer and enocouraging if there are some in the Box

I gave up playing chess in my teens when I realised that my playing level would never be higher than incompetent but my dislike of losing was at a very high level.

@TerryClarkAccordioncrazy

11 ай бұрын

Haha that's me, I've never won a single game ever. No point flogging a dead horse.

@BobDaniel

11 ай бұрын

lol, same...

@exidy-yt

11 ай бұрын

I feel that. Once my uncle who introduced me to the game pwned me with a 'fool's mate' that was about it for my interest in Chess. I hate losing far too much. I was better off PKing people in EverQuest's PVP servers. 🙂

@app0the

11 ай бұрын

Sounds like my life in a nutshell... If I have expectations I'll be disappointed so I should not have expectations, but then I just don't want to play it altogether. Doesn't apply to only chess either...

@davidbarr9343

11 ай бұрын

You,me and countless others across the planet!😂

Bravo, that ending was perfect. Absolute classic. Really hope you get the other board with all the options.

Congrats on winning your first game. Glad you enjoyed it.. "I could challenge friends...if I had any friends." Love that line..

I had a similar chess board in 2004, each space had a button you would press when moving pieces, the pieces all had magnets in them, and the chess board would move its own pieces. It was completely offline. I never did win against that board.

A great way to describe the times we live in: 'I'm happy with it (what I bought), but I'm now wondering if wouldn't been happier with something else'. ♥

@Daijyobanai

11 ай бұрын

Consumerism gone mad I tell ya'!

I remember _Chessmaster 2000_ for MS-DOS. You could play with beeps, silent, or music (PC speaker) which plays a short melody for every particular action. I quite liked that latter option. The people who made your Square-Off should have added that as an option.

Thank you for this great video. And, also thank you for all the video's this year so far. They are much appreciated by myself (and many others). Take care.👍

I got suckered into the kickstarter from your previous video, but ordered the Swap because my hope is that I can have it stream games endlessly completely unattended as a decorative ornament! Ideally someone reverse engineers the bluetooth protocol and makes a third party chess server to run on a raspberry pi or something so it doesn't have to be tethered to a phone.

@DeAthWaGer

11 ай бұрын

Or you could just use an old phone

@plapbandit

11 ай бұрын

@@DeAthWaGer If you can get the phone to run without a battery on mains, that'd be safe. Otherwise you run the risk of overcharging the battery

@chaos.corner

11 ай бұрын

I think he said it was wifi.

@Mawyman2316

11 ай бұрын

That would be quite fun. Hell I wouldn’t even care if it was the same game on repeat, because no one would notice

@Jehty_

11 ай бұрын

@@plapbandit overcharging the battery? That's not a thing. Smartphones have protection against that. (Of course it's still not healthy for the battery, but that doesn't matter with an old phone.)

Great to see a followup to the original chess with a ghost - probably my favourite techmoan video. It is a shame the smaller set can't stream games, even though I'm not particularly interested in watching other people play chess, I feel like it would be a great way to use the set as background decoration when you're not actively using it.

I do not understand why built-in features require a subscription, when this thing is as expensive as it is already.

I genuinely look forward to each new video you put out. The effort and quality to explaining each item makes it more enjoyable than any tv show! Keep up the amazing content

So glad you showed how the knight moved haha! My finger was poised over my keyboard ready to ask! 😅

Each piece should have a unique RFID chip to identify it so that the board can set itself up just by placing them on the board.

@octane613

11 ай бұрын

Yeah it's kinda silly it doesn't have that.

@Tconl

11 ай бұрын

But you can get new (fancier) pieces yourself now right? As long as they are magnetic.

@kipandcop1

11 ай бұрын

Assume it's that the RFID reader would have to scan every piece at the beginning, and it couldn't go on the same arm as the magnet. So probably would add a lot of complexity they didn't think was worth the R&D

@kipandcop1

11 ай бұрын

@@rumsfeld99 I don't believe it's RFID in the more expensive version. You put the pieces in the allocated spots along side the board and it then moves them into position using that

@Techmoan

11 ай бұрын

Nope - never said any of these had RFID.

Do note that their website says the the Neo Z does not have those embedded lights nor the "no press" function. Those are reserved for the Swap

I bought a Swap (or whichever the one you don't have) specifically because of that video you made on the original board. Once I saw they were making cheaper, smaller boards that could also play other games I was sold! It took a few years to get here but mine finally arrived in March. I unfortunately haven't had the chance to use it too much but so far I've enjoyed it!

I had this idea a couple years back. Seems quite a few people have beat me to it. I think I will still eventually build one though.

Something like this shouldn't rely on an app. I am sure everything this can do can be done on a Raspberry Pi. App could be optional, but not required.

In a perfect world, the EU or someone else with a big stick would mandate that all products which rely on an app must open source said product's app either as soon as the product goes out of production or 3 years since its introduction to the market, whichever occurs first. Even though it'd be better to not rely on an app at all, at least it can be kept alive by one or more keen volunteers after the original developers wash their hands of it and move onto other things.

@thesteelrodent1796

11 ай бұрын

Agreed, but it does conflict with the intellectual properly laws, so you need change a few paragraphs to make that fly. They did however go after Apple for artificually bricking phones through software updates when they tried to force people to buy new models, so there is some precedence

@05Matz

9 ай бұрын

Those laws need to be changed anyway. We just need the critical mass of public support, sustained for long enough for politicians to stop seeing those paragraphs as sacrosanct and beyond criticism. @@thesteelrodent1796

The best thing about being American and having insomnia is that I have something new and good to watch at 5am anytime techmoan uploads :)

Surely a built-in microcontroller in the chess board could run the game by itself, no phone app needed. Nowadays there are plenty of these uC at low price with power and memory to spare, and could even connect to wifi, bluetooth or what have you

@Jehty_

11 ай бұрын

"nowadays" I've got a chesscomputer-board as a gift in the early 2000. So even back then that functionality was cheap. (to be fair I guess that computer probably wasn't the best chess player)

@Bob-1802

11 ай бұрын

@@Jehty_ "nowadays" fixed! Yes even microprocessors with external ROM-RAM chips were cheap.

definitely something I would have wanted but the moment I see "app" is the moment I cease wanting it. too many horror stories of devices being bricked because a company either decides that they want to sell the next product or they just go under completely

I agree with you. Relying on an app is a downside. One of the pleasures of chess is to escape and forcing you to use your phone alongside it, feels a bit clunky. The tech is there to make a completely automated, stand alone automatic chess board.

Really like this. Love your comment about chess having a physical board. Recently bought electronic set I had as a kid, I really trained up on that. Hope you learn and love it. 👍

Someone needs to make a Jumanji board with this technology.

Would be cool, if it would work without a smartphone app and connection to the internet, so it would still work in 5 years. You could just put it in your house as decoration and as soon as a visitor would move one of the pieces the pieces of the opposite color would start moving on their own.

Great video Matt......4 years, where did the time go!!.. Other is still going strong and comes out often. Friends are always stunned playing a game, esp the ending when all the pieces return to their respective starts. But like you state, the old version does require a large room to leave set up. And yes, the phone stand is useless with new style phones esp with cases. Square off regularly send updates through. Highly recommended to any budding chess player.

Thanks for yet another entertaining video! You play as I would. :) Have a great rest of your weekend!

Great video Mat! Brought back memories of watching Play Chess on BBC 2 when you were playing

After reading a bunch about these boards and *almost* ordering the "NEO Z" I decided to back the chessnut evo. It's not as "cool" because the pieces don't move by themselves but it seems to me that chessnut has a better reputation than square off (when it comes to delivering) + the eco doesn't require a separate app. I really wanted to like the square off boards & I'll be keeping an eye on their self-moving stuff in the future.

So, this is what playing chess in The Sims by yourself feels like...

Delighted you received yours and also delighted it appears to do more than I had hoped. Now I shall wait with glee for mine to arrive!

@artmartdc

11 ай бұрын

It's arrived!

It is like everything these days --- get an app, but if our company fails our servers die, you are left with and expensive paperweight --- oh and you need a smart phone and connect to the internet so there are $$$$ on top of the product costs --- GREAT AN EXPENSIVE PRINTER!

The ability to play chess is the sign of a gentleman. The ability to play chess well is the sign of a wasted life. -- PM

@nickelion1760

11 ай бұрын

Sounds like a salty comment from a guy that can't play chess well.

@Joseph-pt9yn

11 ай бұрын

​@@nickelion1760i don't know, I'd be willing to bet Paul Morphy could play a damn sight better than you...

@nickelion1760

11 ай бұрын

​@@Joseph-pt9ynOf course he can, it was a joke.

@OldManBOMBIN

11 ай бұрын

I honestly don't know if that's a fake name or not.

@MultiPetercool

4 ай бұрын

@@nickelion1760Two words: Bobby Fischer. If that’s not a wasted life, I don’t know what is.

Im so pleased you're enjoying it, i really, really do prefer the original model so much more, especially visually. Its.such a shame, they seem to have gone backwards.

@medes5597

11 ай бұрын

Did you look at the swap? That's the sequel to the old version he showed. This one is an upgrade of their cheaper chess computers and isn't even in the same line as the old one. Except for company name they're unrelated.

@fissionchips8840

11 ай бұрын

@@medes5597 I am aware I still prefer the other aesthetics and I'm not the only one. Your talking to someone who owns the original. It was just an opinion, hey I'm pleased he loves his new one and is enjoying using it.. Plus it great to get as many folk hooked on chess..!!

I agree about the dependency on an app. I think it would have made more sense to have a built in web server for it that has a webpage with all of the options present in the app. Maybe that would have cost too much to implement with a competitive computer, but I doubt it.

Hello Mr Techmoan. I hope you have a nice weekend. You always make cozy videos.

$29 upgrade? A physical chees board with a DLC option, truly 2023. Still looks pretty fun though.

@DeAthWaGer

11 ай бұрын

Not "upgrade", a 6 month subscription. Still sounds like a better deal than Xbox Gold 🤣

It requires a slanted side for the captured pieces to easily slide off.

"...the internals were, really quite obvious- and very easy to predict" me, for the 3rd time this video: "theres a little man inside which moves the pieces OBVIOUSLY."

I did own the original, but I didn't know this had come out, just bought one with your code Sir ^_^

I really hope they'll make a standalone version of it, without an app. Even if it would be even bulkier than the original board, that'd be a huge improvement - not a fan of apps.

@DeAthWaGer

11 ай бұрын

So who exactly do you play against? The same boring 3 AI presets?

@SlowpokeVG

11 ай бұрын

@@DeAthWaGer I was thinking more of an imbedded "phone" with similar app that would receive updates and you'd select challenges and such. So once board would go offline you'd still have what you downloaded before. Putting AI presets into the board itself by default is already enough for many people, but while servers are still up you could play with others.

@DebatingWombat

11 ай бұрын

@@DeAthWaGer Any device that relies on an app to even function is extremely vulnerable, which means you’re essentially gambling (hahaha…) on the developer to not only stay in business, but to keep throwing money at updates for new OS versions etc. for as long as you want to keep using the product. The moment the updates stop, the device becomes a completely nonfunctional waste of space and money, which is something any purchaser needs to consider. Even supposing it would only have “3 AI presets” (and I don’t see why the choice would necessarily be so limited), the device would at least still work if the app updates stopped.

The Tech Collection has a video on the insides of the Square Neo chess board. Very simple X Y plotter mechanisms as you say Matt with an electric magnet. A long cylindrical Li-Ion battery pack and a very small PCB.

Imagine if Square Off made a transparent/translucent case version for us inner workings nerds.

Congrats on the W. may there be more to come

Question: Is the 'thinking' done in the app, or by the mothership server via the Internet? Observation: I'm in Canada, and the Neo doesn't show up as an option at the bottom of the web page. If I identify as being in the UK, it does.

Was watching another video. Minimized the video I was watching. This popped up. Switched to TechMoan immediately.

What we really need is a online Techmoan chess league, the winner gets the top 10 selling Laser discs.

If this were combined with the Lumisource LED chessboard, I'd be all over it.

Wow...a chess board that needs a firmware upgrade. This really is the future!

@AzzureSky

11 ай бұрын

He had coffee mug, that needed firmware update before.

@TomKappeln

11 ай бұрын

My GF also needs a update ... can't do it ... CPU is to slow.

@tomleader7054

11 ай бұрын

Are you absolutely sure that the plugin host can support the upgrade?@@TomKappeln

@ChristianFuchsBlues

11 ай бұрын

My old set constantly needed hardware updates, cause the dog kept stealing and gnawing the Queens.

@AmazingJeeves

11 ай бұрын

#darkesttimeline

Thanks for the info/review. PS Love the exit video.

In the 1980s I had an MB Electronics ‘Phantom’ chess computer that moved its own pieces. It went into a skip during a house move in 2002. Seeing what they go for on eBay now I wish I’d kept it!😩

@your_average_joe5781

11 ай бұрын

I had the previous version by Milton Bradley called Grandmaster ✅ Moves it's own piece's and still works to this day 👍

Something mechanical like that being put together in a way that makes it impossible to open it without destroying it should be a crime. Only a matter of time before it needs maintenance or repair.

@deanolium

11 ай бұрын

Well with the app being needed, which looks like it also needs internet access, it’s likely to be unsupported in a few years and thus the mechanical side of it will be useless anyway

@Iisakkiik

11 ай бұрын

@@deanolium well that doesn't make it any better, does it? Lol.

For the vast majority of people, chest software that was more than good enough to at least be a real challenge came out in the 1970's. And required a few kilobytes of memory.

@technoman9000

11 ай бұрын

Yeah I don't buy the "Powered by AI" bollocks. It's chess, my 486 was able to play a respectable game back in the day. It should be able to play a basic game, self-contained, with no Internet or bluetooth connection.

@thesteelrodent1796

11 ай бұрын

but it requires a proper processor (not super fast or modern, just an actual processor) to calculate the moves, which means they have to add more electronics to the thing, beyond the obviously very basic motor controller. I'm just guessing the people who made this board decided it was too much effort, or they just don't know how, to add a chess computer into the board. Not trying to defend their decision, because I really don't care for products that rely on apps, but when they have to do everything else on the app anyway, you can see why they didn't see a need to make the board work without. It is very cheap to develop an app, and you can find the chess algorithms online, you don't even have to come up with them yourself.

@ffejpsycho

11 ай бұрын

Yeah, but then they cant lock you down with phone tethered DRM bollucks, and greedy ridiculous subscriptions paywalls

Great video, I love the idea .

Great video Mat.

Different sounds should be possible with a software update, I think. Or as an option in the phone app, coming from the phone's speakers

@technoman9000

11 ай бұрын

I don't know about that. Those beeps sound like a pretty low-quality piezoelectic buzzer. It may not even be able to do different tones.

So we have a none chess player who normally opens up all kinds of devices, now playing chess, not opening up the device. Still nice to watch this review.

@DeAthWaGer

11 ай бұрын

He states exactly what is in it and tells you there is another video with a teardown. He doesn't want to destroy his own personal unit so respect that's his choice. If you feel like shelling out $300 to just tear apart a product for a video, voiding the warrant and rendering it useless, go right ahead.

@marcel9568

11 ай бұрын

No I won’t make that video , since there is already a video like that as you mentioned. I just found the points I mentioned funny and I do respect his choices, never said I don’t.

I had fun watching this video ,thank you

I participated in the kickstarter project of this board and I will get mine around september, hopefully :) It was a long wait due to the pandemic.

the should sell a ouija board overlay for this

@boofuls

11 ай бұрын

😂 that would be too creepy

really seems mighty pricey for what it is

The stress with the clock count down is the best buzz of the game. Love your videos ❤

I definitely want to see the other board. I feel the same. I played as kid and always imagined a board where the pieces would magically move. As always grate video

THE ONLY WINNING MOVE IS NOT TO PLAY

They need to make a ouija board 😅

@keithfulkerson

11 ай бұрын

Maybe someone could hack it to do that. "I wasn't moving it, I swear!"

Great video, Mat...👍

Great video, Matt.

Crazy that they've made a physical version of a video game.

@DeAthWaGer

11 ай бұрын

Based on a physical game. Gameception

@ChristianFuchsBlues

11 ай бұрын

It's a trend. I recently saw people play soccer on a real green with real people. Crazy stuff.

@Graylord88

11 ай бұрын

@@ChristianFuchsBlues Meh, it's just hipsters trying to be cool, it will pass.