I spent hundreds of hours 20 years ago playing Kung Fu Chess[1], which was the (first?) online version of this concept. That was a fun time.
The physical board and magnets definitely add a cool factor to it as does the physical dexterity element. Nice project!
> so this should be a pretty uncontroversial minor rules update
My kind of humor.
Always found it an interesting aspect of chess that the most "common sense" rules (Players take turns; no skipping; one move per turn) result in the most unintuitive outcomes and a massive increase in complexity: Suddenly you can reason about the pieces a player won't be able to move in a turn, you can double-bind players, you get draws where its provably impossible for any player to win, etc.
(In that sense, chess is a bit like the IntercalScript language earlier today: All features are superficially reasonable and in the service of simplicity, yet result in the weirdest outcomes)
Wouldn't all this be gone for chess without turns?
Or would strategies become even more intricate, e.g. taking into account the minimum time you'd require to physically move a piece?
For those wondering how the players could take pieces during the cool down, you’re allowed to move your opponent’s piece because you wear a strap with different frequencies (500hz and 750hz) which lets the board know who is and isn’t allowed to move a piece.
Highly suggest to check out his homepage: https://github.com/misprit7, as its not the first time I've seen his project up here (and deservedly so!), his foosbar machine was definitely worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrwXZXGiP1w
As a fellow engineer, I am in awe - I wonder what his full time colleagues think when he walks in as an intern with that kind of github presence.
Don't miss the linked video on YouTube, the first 30 seconds had me hooked. Very impressive project and production values to match.
Cool thing.
How do you handle the interaction between 2 pieces being moved at the same time ? Can I dodge a capture by picking up a piece ? Say 2 rooks are facing each other, how do you handle a mutual capture attempt ?
I have solved this problem, but still in a turn based setting :
* Both player choose their move, and moves are resolved simultaneously
* A piece cannot be moved 2 turns in a row (discrete cooldown time)
* When 2 pieces land at the same place, they are both considered captured.
* If they move in straight lines, in opposite direction, they are also both captured.
* NO CAPTURE for pieces crossing each other path / knights can exchange their positions.
* No pat. A player can skip his turn.
* the goal is to capture the oposite king obviosuly, not to checkmake it.
With a low blitz time, it solves the same fundamental problem as RT chess, but it can only be played online.
From a few test game, it looks like basic chess structure is preserved. But then there is the question of finding the Nash equilibirum of the game ! 2by2-simultaneous-move-chess with both rook and king leads to some sort of rock-paper-scissor.
There was a demo from around 5+ years ago of a experimental real-time Chess board which looked remarkably similar. Once a piece was moved, a visible circular timer with a duration proportional to the piece valuation would count down until they were allowed to move the piece again.
I wish I could find the link but trying to search YT for relevant results older than a couple years is just trash.
Why is ass and anal bolded in the readme? The git blame says you did it. Haha.
Is it possible to make the squares sligtly conical (like a dinner plate) with the magnet at the bottom, so the pieces are aligned naturaly in the center when they land?
Highest rated youtube comment: "Send us a board and we’ll make a video of Magnus Carlsen playing on it! We’ll cover your expenses of course."
Man that'd be fun to watch
This is amazing! I love that it requires very fancy hardware that is well designed. It's good someone finally made a chess game appropriate for the tiktok generation.
Nice use of bold in the pitch!
> Chess is boring. I'm boring..
Nope. You are boring (and feel free to be). Chess is not boring. That's it.
Hey, I'm the one who made this! My video on it probably does a better job of explaining it than the github so I'd recommend checking that out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7VtSK23_Jg
If anyone has any questions about the engineering process/game itself I'd be happy to answer.