Square Off - Chess Set

According to the kickstarter, this was an oversight when they redesigned the website.  

That said,  they are still trying to produce the first 10 "good" units before starting production.  They are having "issues", but haven't updated the kickstarter on what those issues are.   I think July 2022 is probably too early...They already have 8k backorders.  

8k backorders on just the swap/neo or does that include the square off pro?  Because I have read of people complaining they still haven't gotten their square off pros (those who ordered from square off themselves).  I had mentioned in another thread how last time i checked the delivery date was in may and now it's july.  Frankly at this point i think it's safer to just buy it full price when it's out.  It's been dalayed too many times.

Tbh, i am still waiting on my SO Pro to arrive.  While i can understand and accept delays. 
I have now arrived to the point, in which others have been as well, that they are being dishonest.

Ordered in 11th of Dec, estimated to arrive the 31st of Jan. When not hearing anything, i asked kindly for a status update on the 2nd of Feb. They indicated that my order was given priority and it would ship 20-25 Feb and i would get a tracking Id by the 22nd of Feb. So contacted them , as I have not received anything from them the 23rd.

The site indicated that the order was shipped the 19th of Feb. In the email they just send, they confirmed that it shipped the 19th, however they will give me the tracking details of the shipment the 5th of march. And then it will take 7 business days to arrive. So in other words they lied about it being shipped. 

Right now i feel very conflicted about their dishonesty. Not so much the order itself, but also about the long term support of the board, or the app for that matter. And if they are lying to their customers, the company will not survive long.

Sorry you are having issues. 

When I ordered mine (the one from SquareOff themselves) in early Dec (10-Dec) I got it less than 3 weeks (definitely because I got it before I caught Covid, which was 27-Dec) - which was exactly the time frame they quoted me. 

Not sure that they are lying maliciously, as too many people have received their boards on time. 

Have you asked if you can cancel and get a refund? 

For now i decided to wait out , and wait till the 5th of march. I don't know why they did or feel the need to. Maybe of the pressure other customers are giving. Honestly I don't mind waiting for it. But dishonesty is something i am less forgiving about.

Don't think there are bad intentions. Just struggling to fulfill the current demand while still taking in new orders. That while they have their hands full on the issues with the NEO and SWAP prototypes and the app.  On top of that i heard that they recently moved the production facility from China back to India. So i can understand possible delays.

However if they keep giving BS then i will cancel.

8k just on the Swap / Neo.  

The Pro / Grand Kingdom is produced in China, while the Swap / Neo will be produced in India.  They're different manufacturing facilities. 

If I were buying one today, I'd probably wait until they are available on Amazon or HoS.

Sounds like and interesting piece of kit.

I can't imaging it would handle time scrambles well though.

No, it's really for longer games 

squareoffnow.com is definitely a scam!! I paid for chess 20 days ago and they still have not shipped it. They don't respond any of my emails at all. DON'T BUY ANYTHING FROM SQUAREOFFNOW.COM - IT IS A SCAM, FRAUD! BE AWARE!!

A scam indeed. Maybe it is not intentional, however it is.  False promises on products that are not viable yet (NEO and SWAP), and taking in more orders  then they can handle.

Would have thought they learned by now. Now a fair amount of their shipped products are still full of defects ( GKS mechanism stops working,  bleeding LEDs , battery drainage SO app, and glitches in registering games or ending games prematurely) and support to existing customers seems lacking.

The order of mine, made 4 months ago, has been delayed twice already. Now marked as `shipped` on the site , but somehow they could only provide the tracking details 2 weeks later, and then the order would arrive a week later. Three weeks later, still no tracking details.  Now i don't even get a reply to my emails anymore, requesting the tracking details.

Now i am taking it up with my creditcard company, to get my money back

Having just purchased a dedicated chess computer, I felt the decision was between the DGT Centaur, the Square Off of one kind or another, and the Millennium The King Performance.  I went for the Millennium because as a beginner, it had the features most helpful to me.  Reading this thread, I am sure glad I did.  The entire purchase and shipping process was painless and the product functions as it should.

It sounds as if you folks are having to share the pain of new product development as well as new company startup.  I sure hope the company gets its act together and is able to fulfill all orders as well as address the issues being reported here.

I've been enjoying my Kingdom set since 2019. I play at least once a week. I did buy directly from the factory after waiting for a Black Friday price (ie; late November). Shipping took several weeks but was not delayed. Customer service has been helpful but not always able to solve my issue. During my last game, I was playing black and the board did not register white's first move. I made the move for it, and then responded on the board, and the game continued normally from there. Sometimes it just gets goofy later in the game and you have to manually adjust the pieces. Overall, I enjoy the board, and it's encouraged me to play more. It's a great way to stay in touch with my chess buddy who lives in another hemisphere.

I don't expect it to last too long. Sooner or later it will probably malfunction or they'll stop keeping the software updated for smart phones. We'll see. 

After having it for a week or so now, I think I made the right choice.  From some things I have read, the Square Off seemed a bit early in its life cycle for me.  The Centaur seemed more for somebody who already is at least somewhat a chess master.  The Millennium The King Performance seems just right for somebody starting out and all the way through a strong club player, which will be me from now until well into the future.

It is not fun to get soundly beaten all the time, nor to put the chess computer into a lower level mode only to have it make obvious blunders as I have read the Centaur seems to do at lower levels of play.

The Millennium seems to play well at the lower levels so it doesn't seem as if it is just throwing the game.

Personally, it is not a big deal to me whether I have to lightly press on the start and end of the squares of the move or simply slid pieces around.  I never understood why some make it a big deal.  An advantage to having to press on the squares to register a move is that I can use ANY chess I choose since the pieces don't have special chips or magnets to regoznie moves.

There are many features in the Millennium that are helpful for learning.  In my opinion, it is easier to use than the older dedicated chess computers I have used for taking back pieces, setting up positions, etc.  The lower comfort modes are perfect for a beginner and having the occasional win certainly helps with motivation.

I read here in these forums, the suggestion to play at the lowest level until I can routinly beat the computer, then go to the next level, and so on.  That seems like a perfect application of the Millennium The King Performance.

Who cares if it only plays up to a 2400-2500 level?  How many of us hobby players are at that level or will even get to that level?  To me, having the features the Millennium has is far more important.  Having a strong enougn play that it will take years for me to be able to beat it (if I ever get that far) is plenty good enough for me.

I am sure these other dedicated chess computers are very fine, but the Millennium The King Performance suits my needs perfectly.

Purchased a Swap through SquareOff because of their newly guaranteed delivery by march — remember that? This morning woke up to an email delaying delivery until at least July…

It will arrive eventually, Tierneyalvin. My order got postponed 3 times, and each time the promised day passed, and after a few days i had to email to find out that it was indeed not sent out and got a new delivery date, that was again not met

But all in all, they did sent it to me. Even after I emailed to cancel and requesting a refund. I directly sent it back, without arriving at my doorstep, out of principle

First 100 Neos being shipped...Check out their latest update.

It’s finally happening. We are shipping

InfiVention TechnologiesCreator

March 24, 2022

First 100 will be shipped of the Neo, then 500 next month, then 2000 the following month and 2000 from then on. 

They are still making changes to the Swap...   

Their last project, the Grand Kingdom set, was delayed an additional six months due to all sorts of issues. 

Some people are suggesting that SquareOff is putting out an unfinished product because their indiegogo is under review and they need to deliver something or be forced to return the money.  At this point, it might be true.

For those that haven't read this entire thread:

 PROTIP: Buy from a 3rd party, like Amazon or HoS when/if it becomes available.