Grabbing your toolbox and tackling a few repairs around the house can certainly teach you some new and useful skills. But if you really want to better yourself, and increase your brain power, you’ll reach for these lovely toolbox chess sets instead.
     |
Everybody needs a chess set. And if you’re going to have a chess set, it might as well be a fun chess set, like MakerBot’s Dragons of Glastonbury chess set. That way, if you get bored playing chess, you can always just stage a huge medieval battle in your living room.
| |
Breaking Bad was one of the best TV dramas ever and it was sad when it ended. However, the journey doesn’t have to be over. You can continue to enjoy the show in chess form thanks to this awesome set from Known Unknown Design.
It has hand-drawn characters done in a cool comic book style. Naturally, Mr. White is King and Skyler is Queen – at least on one side of the board. On the other side, Heisenberg rules, and he’s makes Gustavo his bitch. Of course, you can make the show unfold anyway you like through the game.
The custom board is cleverly designed using the periodic table for its spaces. The game folds for easy carrying too, so you can take it with you to the meth lab. The entire set is available on Etsy for $85(USD).
[via Juxtapoz]
Most of the nixie tube hacks and mods we’ve seen involve clocks, which isn’t surprising considering the tubes were primarily used to show numbers. But there are also tubes that display symbols, and those are the ones put to good use by Lasermad in its Nixie Chessboards.
Lasermad uses ex-Soviet Nixies from the 80s. They also designed a neat chessboard that uses induction coils to power the tubes. All you have to do is plug the board to an outlet and the tubes will automatically light up when you place them on the board.
Here’s a demo video of the board:
You can order the Nixie Chessboard from Lasermad either as a ready-to-assemble kit for $340 (USD) or as a fully built set for $759. Note that the DIY kit is not for beginners, although Lasermad does have a help forum for people who opt to get their hands dirty.
[via The UberReview]
While I like playing the occasional game of chess, I don’t think I’d be able to make it through a round playing with this chess set without throwing up a little bit in the back of my throat.
Yes, what you’re looking at is an entire chess set made from taxidermied mice. It was made by Etsy creator TheCurious13 “to get people’s attention.” Well, mission accomplished, Curious, mission accomplished.
According to its description the set is made from “fur, taxidermy, mouse, mice, foam, cotton, wire, beads, fabric, wood, paint, paper, and glue.” That’s right, there are so many mice, he had to state it twice. Hey, I made a rhyme!
Each mouse has been dressed in appropriate garb, including tiny crowns for Kings and Queens, and these adorably creepy little bishop’s outfits:
Each of the 32 mice in the set was already dead, frozen and bred to be fed to reptiles, so I suppose this is a slightly more pleasant outcome for them. I guess. Unfortunately (or is it fortunately), the set has already been sold, so we don’t have to worry about the cat eating all our pawns any time soon.
[via Dangerous Minds via Geekologie]
Do you think you are a badass at chess? No, you are not. Not until you play the game the way it was played in medieval times: using a chainmaille chess set while wearing a suit of armor. Well, I’m just guessing that was the way they played the game. This way if your opponent was a sore loser, you were protected from his sword or axe.
This cool set was made by David Gutenkauf, a craftsman who specializes in the creation of chainmaille. He crafted this set from woven steel and bronze. The board is about 12″ square and it weighs in at a hefty three pounds. Each piece is wrapped around a glass marble for stability, and the kings about two inches-tall.
It’s a nice looking set to take to the Renaissance fair with you. You’ll be king of nerd mountain for the day. It’s going for $750(USD) over on Etsy.
[via Nerd Bastards via Neatorama]
In the ultimate power ranking of common domestic herbs and succulents, which would you say reigns supreme? It’s an important question that deserves serious consideration before playing the green-themed Micro-Planter Chess Set, which ingeniously doubles as a mini indoor-outdoor checkerboard garden.
| |
The world’s premier hat simulator spreads its death and destruction to the chessboard. NECA’s WizKids will be releasing a Team Fortress 2 chess set by the end of the year. Never above mocking itself, Valve allowed WizKids to turn the game’s classes into disembodied heads, with the chess pieces worn as hats.
The hats are not just for show either. According to WizKids’ press release, the set will let you play a modified game of chess. That’s because the pieces – i.e. the hats – are interchangeable, so you can assign a different class to a particular piece at the start of every game. But while you’re playing, “players can claim various hats from other pieces and assume the movement characteristics of pieces captured, adding an element of variation and challenge to the standard game of chess.” Sadly the hats don’t seem to be stackable.
The Team Fortress 2 chess set should be available from ThinkGeek and the Valve store before the year ends, though it probably won’t be free to play.
Chess sets can often be overly fussy, with intricate or unusual pieces distracting from the game at hand. Not so this gorgeous negative space chess set, though, with each piece represented by the void drilled into a transparent acrylic block.
| |
It’s been a while since I featured a product from Brando, and I have to say I’m slightly disappointed with what they recently showed to us. It’s a USB drive shaped like a king chess piece. I know right? A perfectly reasonable, gift ready gadget that doesn’t make you want to bash your head against the wall in confusion? What’s going on at Brando?
The only weird thing about it it’s that Brando calls it a Chess Flash Drive. And it’s not even that weird! They just accidentally a word.
If you’re looking for a gift for a chess fan, get this from Brando. It sells for $16 to $38 (USD) depending on the capacity you want. Meanwhile I’ll be here mourning the end of an era.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
