PHANTOM: The Automated Chessboard

Hi Everyone!!

For a few months, a friend of mine and me were working on a very exciting project: An automated chessboard that feels and looks like a traditional chess set. It has been a ton of work and we feel very happy whit our progress. We just launched our first Kickstarter campaign to share this awesome project with all the chess enthusiasts and fans of OTB playing. 

You can visit the campaign at this Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wondersubstance/phantom-the-most-advanced-chess-board-in-the-world?ref=a3d8o6

Also, if you want to learn more about the whole process of design and engineering behind the Phantom board, you can check our post in Hackaday: https://hackaday.io/project/179268-automatic-chessboard

It was a bitter disappointment that the Regium automated chess board turned out to be a hoax. It was a chess player's dream.

The very high level of interest shows that there is a strong market for it if it is genuine. DGT announced that after appraisal, it would not be possible to make such a product economically. Square Off and its new product is just too clunky.

I will follow your progress with interest but Regium has cast a big shadow over anything that is financed by crowd funding.

I was also very disappointed when Regium turned out to be a hoax and It was part of my inspiration to achieve this project. You can check my Hackaday page in which you can see all the effort we have put in into this and all the files are out for you to create your own board. You can also join my discord server and chat with me if you have further questions.

Hackaday Project

Discord Server

This looks so awesome!

Really cool, but I'm extremely sceptical because of Regium. Your kickstarter is obviously going well, but I think to convince more people like me you need more clips of "behind the scenes" showing how it technically works. After exploring your hackaday page I saw the transparent acrylic tops with the arm operating below, you should show more of that in your promo video.

Well it’s like old news, square off did this ages ago with the kingdom and Grand Kingdom and a kickstarter a while back for two new robotic boards the swap and Neo. Looks possible to be potentially patent infringement or intellectual property territory. But assume that’s all be looked at?

initially I thought it was another Square off board.

https://squareoffnow.com

Amazing project! I watched your video and you noted that you can play against AI. Are you able to “connect” the board to your chess.com account so that we can play their adaptive and levelled computer characters? I love playing against the computer, but it’d be amazing to play those same matches (and see the post game analysis) inside of chess.com, but living it on your board!

Well done on a very interesting project

Hi @iamdoghello

I understand the scepticism due to the mishandling of other projects. I've worked on other product development projects, and I understand the importance of sharing videos and images of the development process. You can watch some videos of our beta prototypes at the following link: https://www.instagram.com/phantom_chess/

Hi @Brit_FK

Square off and Phantom are completely different product categories. From my point of view, SquareOff is doing terrific work bringing e-boards to everyone, which is clear in their second campaign; they have very low prices for the technology embedded in the board. But, when I received mine, I didn't enjoy the feeling of playing with it. The pieces are small and light, and the squares are small too, the surface board is plastic... That's why I decided to make my own board, with a wooden board surface, big and weighted pieces, and natural wood touch. I believe Phantom is one of those high-end wooden boards you place in a special place, not only for play but for the delightful sculptural pieces.

Hi @ac0nite

We are currently working on connecting Phantom to Chess.com. Remember you'll be able to connect Phantom to the Lichess server to play against anyone inside that community or any bot available there. And of course, we'll also launch our own APP (android/ios) that you can use to play with anyone in any part of the world, even if they don't have a board they can use the app to play.

1 million already raised??? Wow

Hey Carlos. Wanted to ask, what programming language have you written the code in?

I just saw the announcement on the kick starter that you will be supporting chess.com. The API is closed - do you know if they are planning on opening it so other people can use it? Or they are just working with you?

Assuming the statement is legitimate, it would be something like what was done with SquareOff. I can't see the site opening it up for just anyone to use.

Has chess.com validate the claim that they are working with you?  Simply posting in the forum that they are is not proof.  I'm sure they don't police all the claims here.

Thanks for all your efforts and congrats on your successful kickstarter campaign!  The promo video looks fantastic.  I will definitely purchase the finished product when it is done.  I just hesitate to fund a project with so many unknowns factors.  But it looks like you have enough supporters for you to get started!  Cheers.  I will follow your progress and hope to pick this up later.

 @paulb39

Their API is closed, which means you need their permission to connect to the platform. It was a long process, but in the end, they email us and send us their requirements to start working on an integration into their app.

@Lenski3

We've been in touch with Erik Chess.com, CEO. We already have the requirements to start working on the integration. We still have a lot of work to do, but we are fully capable of getting everything done once production finishes.

@mathgk
Thanks for your kind wishes! It'll be great to have you following Phantom's progress.

Hey @Carlos_Pendas, if we miss the kickstarter, do you plan on eventually having an online retail space where you'll sell these? Just in case we don't plan on purchasing within the next 22 hours.

Thanks!