Square Off - Chess Set

I occasionally see them on ebay 

Nothing lasts forever. My board has been working great though! 

There’s one on eBay now but the seller wants a frankly silly £499 for it - and it’s collection only, which isn’t possible because of isolation rules. 

Thanks for the advice. However, while I recognise some might view the self-moving aspect of Square Off as a fragile gimmick, it's of great interest to me. My hope is that it would also help to capture the interest of my gadget-loving 12 year old son while his school is shut down. He's got the right sort of brain for chess, but so far I've found it difficult to persuade him to give the game a serious go. 

My friend, I appreciate your concern. It's ok though - I've done my research on the board, my son is a careful person, and - well, frankly, I'd just like to buy the board if I can. But can't seem to find one anywhere right now, hence posting on here, in hope that someone whose board with their Square Off might want to sell it to me.

Why do you say they are easily breakable? You cannot get at any of the moving parts to fiddle with them. The only way I can see it could be broken is dropping it from a height or dropping something very heavy onto it. That makes most electronics 'easily breakable'

@Kriminy , if you decide to splash out you might want to look at Amazon as they will probably have faster delivery times than ordering direct. Mine took a couple of weeks to arrive, and I think it got sent from Ireland. Good luck in your hunt!

Alas, no availability in any of the Amazon stores globally. I wonder if they have cleared out stock in preparation of the release of their new boards on Kickstarter.

About SquareOffs longevity. 
SquareOff records all your games and keeps track of the number of games you play. My current number of games, according to SquareOff, is 1,231 games and everything is still working great.

Most of the negative people out there have no idea what they are talking about.

To each their own. I love square off. it has never gave me issues. ive had it for over two years now and works great

Finally managed to snag a grand kingdom model off eBay for a decent price - would have preferred the smaller kingdom model - the grand kingdom looks huge. Does the streaming function work well?

I've used it a few times and it works pretty well. I did hit a problem when a pawn promoted, it kind of locked up, but that was a while ago and may have been fixed since 

I have also had my grand kindom two years works great. I have also ordered two Neos for portability. They have continued to add new features to the software. I can recommend buying one to everyone. yes they are compatible with chess.com

This is regarding the streaming of games. Playing a game promotion is fine 

Managed to Grand Kingdom set on eBay - works well and I’m really enjoying it. Having pieces move themselves does really add to the sensation of playing against a real human -  it’s a lot of fun.

As well as wishing it was quite a bit smaller, I do have a couple of criticisms unfortunately. The first is that I’m not convinced there is any real wood to be found on the set or the pieces, which makes the product description pretty misleading if I’m right. Looking closely at the squares and the surrounding panels I’m pretty certain I’m seeing repeating patterns in the grain. And the pieces appear to me to be some sort of resin - I can see what appears to be a seem on the of the pieces left over from the moulding process. So - while the first impression is of good quality, on closer inspection I’m not particularly impressed. 

Worst of all though is the piercing loud beep that sounds twice for every move you make. There was a button in the app that appears to allow you to turn off game noise - but it doesn’t appear to have any effect. Does anyone know if there is any way around this? It’s the opposite of relaxing, not least for others around me.

If I remember a firmware upgrade lowered the volume of the beep remarkably. When I first got mine the beep was very loud! Apply for their beta program as I think that so helps with the volume 

It was not my expectation the housing a chessboard would be real wood mowing how sensory boards that require a slight press to make a move. They should likely adjust the discription for those who assume it is though. On the other had I think they did a very nice imitation and I love the looks. Definitely do not use any polish or chemical cleaners on the surface it would be a giant mistake. Can't help with the beeping I only hear the times when my hearing aids are in lol

Oh mine was one of the first and it has real wood pieces you may still be able to buy wood ones try asking support

This from the square off web ship: “Handcrafted chessboard with rosewood finish”.  I’d argue that this is more than misleading if indeed there is no rosewood in the set.

They have it correctly described by my dictionary according to the word "finish" so buy and enjoy one instead of trying to find fault.

I have bought one and I am enjoying it. Please - I’d be grateful if you would kindly try not to be almost comically patronising in your tone.  Dictionary definition indeed - I won’t patronise you in return  by engaging with that.

My friend, I have already praised the board, if in addition I wish to remark on a negative aspect of my experience with it, please just ignore me if that upsets you for some reason.  There is surely enough room on the internet for both of us. Thank you.