Square Off - Chess Set
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So close to launch (allegedly) and I have yet to see one real world video of the Neo in action. Speaking as an early backer I don’t have much faith that it’s going to be good.
Well the Kingdom boards worked well for many, I think they will be fine. Time will tell
How expensive would the Kingdom board be with the new technology integrated into it? The cheaper tech is already a $500 board and the craftmanship of it wasn't even to the level of less expensive boards. I'm sure they have data to validate their decision in going plastic to lower the price. A $700 board with mediocre craftmanship would be a tough ask.
I periodically click on an ad to see what the estimated delivery will be for a new Neo/Swap preorder. This doesn't look promising at all....
Delivery by 15th May, 2022
I thought the Neo's were heading out shortly
BaronVonChickenpants wrote:
I thought the Neo's were heading out shortly
The company quietly announced all the proc sensors they bought failed QC, and delayed the product rather than ship a faulty product. It is good they delayed it, but it is terrible that they didn't come out and say what was going on.
And again, quietly, they announced that the first 10 test units had some issues 3 days ago, giving them more delays.
I think it wouldn't be so infuriating if they just kept us in the loop.
binomine wrote:
BaronVonChickenpants wrote:
I thought the Neo's were heading out shortly
The company quietly announced all the proc sensors they bought failed QC, and delayed the product rather than ship a faulty product. It is good they delayed it, but it is terrible that they didn't come out and say what was going on.
And again, quietly, they announced that the first 10 test units had some issues 3 days ago, giving them more delays.
I think it wouldn't be so infuriating if they just kept us in the loop.
Thanks for the info. So i'm going to guess that this is probably going to delay their estimated delivery date of may 2022 which is what their website shows. Chessup looks good from the recent videos i've seen even though it doesn't have utomatic movements. But since the NEO is supposed to be delivered in May I thought i would wait the extra month (chess up estimated for april). Now i'm thinking if the NEO gets delayed then again i'll just order the chessup.
I'm sure square off will eventually get it right but I just can't wait much longer.
binomine wrote:
BaronVonChickenpants wrote:
I thought the Neo's were heading out shortly
The company quietly announced all the proc sensors they bought failed QC, and delayed the product rather than ship a faulty product. It is good they delayed it, but it is terrible that they didn't come out and say what was going on.
And again, quietly, they announced that the first 10 test units had some issues 3 days ago, giving them more delays.
I think it wouldn't be so infuriating if they just kept us in the loop.
Where were these items announced please?
BaronVonChickenpants wrote:
Where were these items announced please?
On the Kickstarter, not a direct announcement, simply a comment in the comments section.
As for the latest delay:
This was posted January 18, 2022:
[quote]- Hi, so far the testing has been good. We recognized some assembly mistakes that factory workers made in these units and subassembly. Thus to standardize the assembly process our contract manufacturer is making some more jigs that will further assist in the first 100 and future product assemblies. The current setup at our contract manufacturing factory can produce 50-100 units per day once the process is streamlined. But we are working with them to start parallel assembly lines to multiply the daily output. Thanks![/quote]
I'm going to look for the other delay, which is why they missed the December deadline.
The announcement for the faulty magnetic sensors was in the November 2021 update on the kickstarter.
[quote]This interim delay due to the faulty sensors unfortunately prevented us from shipping out the first batch of NEO & SWAP as promised in November. [/quote]
binomine wrote:
The announcement for the faulty magnetic sensors was in the November 2021 update on the kickstarter.
[quote]This interim delay due to the faulty sensors unfortunately prevented us from shipping out the first batch of NEO & SWAP as promised in November. [/quote]
At least these issues were discovered by the QC team rather than the end users who would have had to return them for replacements or repairs. I'll continue to wait patiently and hope the received product will be resilient to faults.
binomine wrote:
The announcement for the faulty magnetic sensors was in the November 2021 update on the kickstarter.
[quote]This interim delay due to the faulty sensors unfortunately prevented us from shipping out the first batch of NEO & SWAP as promised in November. [/quote]
Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I dont keep tabs on all the kickstarter comments, I do read their formal email updates though, but must have forgotten about that.
I'm not in any huge rush ( thankfully! ) . I backed on kickstarter so very long ago that it'll be a nice surprise when it eventually ships
chessroboto wrote:
binomine wrote:
The announcement for the faulty magnetic sensors was in the November 2021 update on the kickstarter.
[quote]This interim delay due to the faulty sensors unfortunately prevented us from shipping out the first batch of NEO & SWAP as promised in November. [/quote]
At least these issues were discovered by the QC team rather than the end users who would have had to return them for replacements or repairs. I'll continue to wait patiently and hope the received product will be resilient to faults.
I would rather have a working product than something that doesn't work at all, but they should be more open with the problems they have been having. We've blown by the third deadline with no "official" word on why.
Any idea if the Neo or Swap will work with Chess.com play with bots option?
I sure hope so 
Feb 2
Hi, we don't have specific dates for your questions. We have shared in previous updates and comments about the issues and improvements made. Whenever an issue or irregularity is observed, our team devotes some time to do root cause analysis followed by a solution to solve this. The solution is then applied to a few units firstly and tested. If it passes then we apply for the rest else need to re-evaluate other solutions. All these processes need some time and thus there is no definite date available. The mass assembly is not resumed yet and the production capacity we will know once the factory is familiar with the entire process without any issues. We have currently installed 6 jigs. As we have shared previously, the fulfillment will happen to Kickstarter backers followed by Indiegogo. Currently, there is no algorithm for shipment allocation and our team is working on the process. Thanks!
So, delayed indefinitely until we get a new message. O_o.
PalmLine wrote:
Any idea if the Neo or Swap will work with Chess.com play with bots option?
Probably not! Most likely they will use the Square off app, which has their own implementation of an AI bot with 20 skill levels. Since Chess.com hasn't implemented playing against their bots even for directly Connected Boards (such as DGT boards) , I doubt it will work on the Neo or Swap, unless they will come with additional software which allows for "capturing positions from screen " and then "emulate mouse clicks", which would be very fault prone.
Agreed, I doubt it'll work with the bot system. There used to be challengeable bots in the normal player list an it would work with those, but I think they have bene retired in favour of the new method.
Kickstarter update: Neo and Swap first shipments ETA January 2022
What about the NEO? any updates?