Date:  May 31, 2019

This just arrived on the dot!   School holidays start today!

I first saw this on a Youtube.  Found it fascinating.  But because of the high price tag, I did not get it from Amazon.

Many month later, one of the exhibitor in SG Digital Wonderland expo brought in this and demo it.  We saw the demo, my kids played with the demo, and I can see their amazing looks on their face.  When I asked the exhibitor “Where can I buy it?” They said, they are selling it, but no stock at the moment.  And the new stocks may be will arrived 3-5 months later.

So, I beh-tahan, I go and bought it!  hahaha

The real reason why I want to buy it.  Because this is analogy to Digital Newspaper Vs. Real hardcopy of Newspaper.  The turning the actual newspaper pages is really the natural way compare to “swiping” your finger to turn the page on the iPad Newspaper app.  It is totally different.

When I play chess, I want to touch the real moving pieces.  I want to EAT opponent actual physical pieces.  I want to see actual pieces moving from my opponent.  Of course there are tons of Chess app out there.  But the feel is different.

So, I bought it.

And it arrived today.  Let’s un-box it.

It shipped from US to here by DHL.  Inside the DHL box is this.

Inside the Square Off box, is the actually box.  Yes, another box.

Simple packaging.  I bought the Kindom Set.  (Can’t remember what is it.)

Just to demonstrate how big is the box.  It’s big.  I always wanted a real chess set.

Protection foam.  Oh… there is a letter.  Power charging cable is below along with the chess pieces.

Oh, it is the welcome letter and the instruction sheet.

It is true for saying “it’s all about adding a little bit of magic to everyday lives”…

“Magic” is the word!!

Wow… looks simple.

This is the actually chess board.  Huge.  I like.

I think inside has mechanical parts, that is why there is this screw there.

The app actually will prompt you to unscrew the transport screw.

This is the ON OFF button.  Is actually a button, you press it, the button is pressed.  You press again, the button depress and come back up.

And this is the power charging hole.

The even supply the iPad or Android Pad stand.

This is the app you download.  Very easy to setup.  Signup and login.  Then, press the ON button, and press CONNECT on the App, to connect using Bluetooth.

The interface of the App is very simple.  But since we do not have any Friends yet, so, we will play with SquareOff AI.

Later you will find out Level 1, the AI is really “stupid”.  But, it is GOOD for me, because I have two kids that is learning how to play chess.  So, if the AI make stupid moves, it actually will encourage my sons.

Let’s play.  The App also can display the chess board on the iPad itself too.

Here is the set up.

Oh, I purposely did not explain “What is this Square Off Chess?”

You might have guessed it.  The chess pieces will move itself.  You are playing against the AI.  On a physical chess board.  Just take a look at my first game.

(Pai Seh, I made a mistake, my queen and king tum-balik liao, no wonder, just now I check the Level-1 AI, it seems like nothing happen.. haha)

See how the chess pieces move?  Wow, it is Harry Potter Chess lah!

Oh… his horse eat my horse.  So cute, it first moved my white horse to aside.  And then, it moved its own black horse to that position.

Let me quickly swap the queen and king position for both sides.  OK, that means, it has no idea if you placed the chess pieces wrongly.  But if you place them correctly, the AI is managed to “remember” every single chess pieces positions after many many moves.

And CHECK MATE!  Yeah!  And I killed every single of his other pieces.  This is LEVEL 1.  I am sure Level 2 and 3 and 4 will be much more harder.

Yeah!  It can even Analyse the Game.

Yeah, let’s see how my son plays.  It’s Friday Play Date night.

He still amazes with the Magic Chess.

He also likes to see the chess play on the iPad.

So, basically he is playing real chess in a way.

Let’s see how he played.

Even Ash is amazed with it.

And more kids came in the room.

Finally Kay also come in and see Jay playing chess against the AI.

This looks a bit like those old uncle playing checkers down below the HDB blocks.  hahaha

They all having lots of fun watching.

This is the Square Off Kingdom Set Chess.  The AI Chess.  What do you think?  Cool or not cool?