The Chess House - Flex Pad Club Board

We have seen 3 people, or groups of people have made, and sell the new 1/16" thick mousepad board which bends and flexes like a silicone board, is built like a mousepad board, and allows the pieces to slide more easily across it than either.

Glen Butterman first came out with his.  Then we saw Shelby Lohrman and American Chess Equipment bring their boards out for sale.

Recently I discovered that Raphael Neff of The Chess House has come up with his own version.  He names it the Flex Pad board.

I have bought boards from all 3 places.  Raphael only has his board in green, as pictured above, while the others have wood prints as well as solid color prints.

Here are my comparisons and thoughts.

1. The Chess House board has the best green color to its squares than the other two.  The ACE board has a green that actually is too bright to look at under a lot of situations.  The Butterman board's green is alright but when compared to the Chess House one looks kind of faded.

2. The print on the Chess House board is very distinct.  As you may know all these boards are digitally printed.  The Butterman board has square edges that are a bit blurred coming from the possible bleeding of the ink during the printing process.  The ACE board is also quite distinct without any blurred lines.

3.  The Chess House and Butterman boards have the squares all one solid color abutting the next square of opposite color.  The ACE boards, in color and not wood grain print, have a black border surrounding each and every square.  Because of the black border the sets that look best on the ACE boards are black or a very dark Rosewood.  Also the black border is 1/8" (.125") thick leaving the color portion of the square being 2.125" instead of 2.25" as the other boards are.  This makes it so that I must use either the Butterman or Chess House boards with my sets that have larger, 1.6" and bigger, King base diameters to look right.

4.  Raphael and his staff say that pieces slide on their board easier than on the others.  I have not had the opportunity to perform this direct comparison.  However, while playing chess on a Chess House board, I did notice the pieces slid on the board nicely.  I can believe their claims are true.

5.  All the boards fold and squish up nicely, laying flat when ready to play.  And they are pretty much the same in sizing and how they handle.

6.  The Chess House board is also the least expensive of the three.  They sell it on their website (https://www.chesshouse.com/Flex_Pad_Club_Chess_Board_p/e010.htm) for $11.00.

7.  I have not seen any Butterman boards for sale anywhere lately, so if you want a board like this it is either American Chess Equipment or The Chess House as your choices.

8.  In my opinion, The Chess House board is the best to get for the standard green color.  Of course this is also the only color they currently offer in this type of board.

9.  American Chess Equipment is the current place to get other colors and of course the wood grain print versions of these boards. 

Excellent compare and contrast review, Ron.  Greatly appreciated.

Best,
Bob

Very good review. These new boards, I predict will be outselling vinyl boards come 2018 as soon as all the big chess retailers start selling them.  THese boards are tough and take a beating and it seems they will last for almost ever. Anyways they will outlast this old man. 

Great review.  The only nitpick I have with the Chess House board is that I wish the notation was in black ink instead of green.  The butterman board has black notation which I prefer.

Good point, cghori, I would prefer black notation too.

I agree with you fellows.  The ACE board also has black notation on its newly printed boards.

It's just that The Chess House board has a better green than even the Butterman board.  Today I was walking my Butterman board out to my car because I decided on the Chess House board and it was put in my bag with a wood set and clock.  Anyway when the sunlight hit the Butterman board the green squares look kind of translucent, kind of shimmery.  Of course in most all of our playing situations, this is not a problem and not noticeable.  And the fuzzy edges also are not a real problem during play either.  When you put the 3 different boards together, the Chess House board just looks better than the other two.  And my friend, Wayne, agreed to the point where he decided before I got to the table.

I will still use my green Butterman boards for my sets with lighter colored dark pieces like Sheesham and Golden Rosewood (which is pretty much the same thing). 

I plan on using my Chess House green boards with my darker dark pieces that have larger bases like my HoS B H Wood set that is Ebonized and even my Noj GM Pavasovic set.

I am going to use my ACE green boards for the darker sets with smaller bases like my HoS Lardy that is Ebonized and my HoS Championship set in Rosewood.

After considering all this I realized that Raphael has made these newer boards to look like the nicest green and buff vinyl boards.  They also have the notation in green, the same colors as the squares.  Maybe we can get Raphael to have some printed with black notation.

thx for the review

looks better than the vinyl boards

Thanks for the in-depth review. 

I don't like light green squares on wallet travel sets or for full-sized boards.  I recently bought the ACE Walnut impression board, so I'll see how I like that.  However, if I need to replace one of my green-squared vinyl boards, Chess House is where I'll go for a flex pad version.

Thanks again, Ron!

I'm hoping Chess House comes out with a black/white square board.

Well it didnt take long for some one to make a cheaper thin mousepad board. Now im waiting for some one to create a small anaysis size thin mouse pad board because the current small silicone board is being sold on amazon for 30 

A thought occurred to me.  I remember Butterman last year was in talks with Raphael to have Chess House distribute his boards (on this Forum's suggestion).  Could this Flex Pad be a revamped Butterman board? And maybe that's the reason we haven't seen or heard from Glenn in a while?  Or is it just a coincidence that the Flex Pad is so similar to the Butterman board?

I spoke with Raphael and he told me that he came across a manufacturer that had not done chess boards yet.  Raphael then proceeded to work with them to create a board the way Raphael wanted.  This board has nothing to do with Glen Butterman or his products.

Excellent reviews and info.  Thanks Eyechess, and others.....

P.S.  I agree with others that the ACE boards would be better off WITHOUT the black interior lines surrounding the playing squares...

P.P.S. I prefer black notation on the board, as well...

Eyechess: Why do you need so many green boards?  Just use the Flex Pad for everything!

Because he's the Consumer Reports of chess equipment.  He enjoys it, and sharing his experience (to our benefit!)...

Well I own over 30 wood sets and a few plastic ones, and I have each in its own bag.  I want a roll up board with each one whether there is a wood board or not.  I also want to be able to just grab a bag and put a clock in it and go without looking where I put the roll up last.

I also find that a green board is good to have with most of the sets, even if there is a different colored one also.

I decided to no longer use vinyl boards when this type is available.  So, I actually need something like 20 or so green boards, which I now have bought over a good number of months.

I still use the silicon boards since they roll up much more compactly than the Butterman-like boards.  I am not concerned with the sliding aspect since most everyone picks up the pieces and moves them anyway.

I have also used the silicone boards, especially with my Blitz (HoS Liberty) setup.  I just switched to these boards because they are not "sticky" as the silicone.

I also use several sets for tournament play.  I have a chess bag I take to tournaments and leave my silicon/Butterman board (or both) in my chess bag.  Then I just grab the set I want to use and throw it into my bag.  I can't see buying 20-30 boards (one for each set).  I could use the money and buy a nice brand new set!