History

If you love chess, you enjoy the little details of a well crafted physical set, like the beautiful weighted pieces and real wood construction.

Online chess is definitely convenient, and offers possibilities a physical board just can’t. However, playing on a screen will never bring you the same experience, and it completely takes away the beauty of the game. 

We bring you the best of both worlds. The infinite possibilities of online chess with the enriching experience of a physical set.

Introducing Phantom. The most advanced chess board in the world.

An automated chess that is also beautiful.  

Phantom is elegantly crafted in natural wood, with the attention to detail chess deserves. But what really makes it extraordinary, is inside.

To make the best autonomous chess set in the world, we created a sophisticated sensor array that detects the precise location of every piece, and a fast, silent mechanism that moves the pieces smoothly across the board, like magic, for the most amazing chess experience you will ever have.

Play against any human on earth.

Phantom allows you to enjoy a real, physical chess game against anyone, anywhere. 

Whether it is someone on the other side of the world, or a friend or family member you haven’t been able to see for a year, Phantom brings you together.

When you play against someone online, their moves happen in real-time on your board as if they were in the same room. And they don’t even need to have a Phantom. They can play with you using their smartphone or computer, but if they use their own Phantom board, the experience becomes magical, as your moves reflect in their board in real time too.

Play with your voice.

Direct your troops in battle with fast, responsive voice commands. Just like coming out a fantasy story, the pieces move autonomously as if they are enchanted. Marvel anyone by playing a hands-free chess game.

Play against a human-like AI. 

Computers have brought new life to the ancient game of chess. It was once thought impossible that a machine would be able to beat a Grand Master human player. But now, computers have gotten so good that trying to compete against them is a futile endeavor. 

Phantom allows you to play against Maia, a human-like neural network chess engine, specifically designed to mimic human play. It automatically adapts to your rank and always presents you the most challenging and enjoyable game.

Of course, you can also play against other popular engines like Stockfish at different levels and even integrate your own.

 Learn from every game. 

Perfect your skills with the Phantom Tutor: your personal trainer. It remembers your every move and gives you precise recommendations on how to improve.

The Ultimate Conversation Piece.

Streaming the Brandenburg Concertos on your phone will never be as exciting as watching the orchestra perform them live. The same is true with chess.

Master games deserve to be enjoyed over and over again. 

In Sculpture Mode, Phantom plays back the most iconic games in history autonomously. Choose one from our curated library of 100+ games or upload your own. You can also record your own games and entertain your guests by replaying your greatest matches.

More Than a Game, it is an Art Piece. 

Chess is not just a board game to be put away when you’re done. Chess is art and should be treated as such.

We designed the Phantom set to be the focal point of any room. Phantom is an elegant, timeless collectors’ piece that honors the beauty of the game and immediately grabs the attention of anyone who passes by. 

Built with high-quality materials and attention to the very last detail, Phantom is a mesmerizing kinetic sculpture to contemplate for hours and proudly display your passion for chess.

The Perfect Gift for Chess Enthusiasts.

We designed Phantom to be enjoyed by novices and professionals alike. Phantom is the perfect gift for any chess lover at any skill level.

Two designs to choose from

THE MINIMAL

Designed to preserve the essence of classic and timeless chess with a modern twist.

The pieces have a minimalist expression yet are easily recognizable.

Ideal to compliment any modern space

THE CLASSICAL

Without a doubt, the most recognizable style, the Staunton chess set has been loved for over 150 years. We didn’t want to miss the opportunity to bring this traditional design into the 21st century.

Ideal to compliment any home library, private study, or office.

An Authentic Chess Experience. 

Expert players are renowned for their graceful moves. Precise. Without hesitations.

But so far, automatic boards have failed to imitate this, they have slow and robotic moves like claw machines.

We wanted to recover the human touch and mimic real movements as much as possible to provide the most enjoyable automated chess experience.

Phantom’s beautiful pieces glide flawlessly over the board. And while you won’t be able to play blitz with it, the moves are fast and precise. It feels natural as if you are playing with another person.

Expertly Crafted.

Through obsessive attention to detail, we custom-built every aspect of our chess board and pieces to feel like the most authentic set you have ever owned.

The natural wooden board brings a timeless aesthetic. The chessmen are weighted and precisely balanced. We carefully curated the right material for the base of each piece, one that provides low friction for smooth autonomous motion, but doesn’t change the feeling of playing chess.

An autonomous board posed a unique design challenge. Because all the pieces must be able to travel between any other two, typical wide-base chess piece design would mean tiny pieces like those from a dollar store.

We solved the problem and designed chess pieces that look and feel premium without being too bulky for the digitally enabled wooden board.

Quiet & Smooth.

Phantom brings you an unparalleled experience. Pieces moving naturally and gracefully. The whisper-quiet mechanism lets you enjoy the game without distractions. 

Play anywhere.  

The Cordless Phantom version allows you to enjoy a great chess game wherever you are. 

Relax playing in your backyard on a sunny afternoon. Show off your autonomous board at the center of the room without any cumbersome cables. With its long-lasting battery, The Cordless Phantom makes the possibilities endless.

Open-Source Protocol with Perpetual Support.

We want to enable a deeper enjoyment of chess by allowing anyone to communicate with the Phantom Board using our Open Source Protocol. This means that anyone who wants to support our board will be able to do so. Tinkerers and hobbyists can use the board as a platform for any project they can imagine.

Open-Source Hardware

We have been sharing the development of this project in our Hackaday.io post. We want to share every detail of the Phantom Chess so it is not only Open-Source, but also Open Hardware.

You can find files and designs available in the Hackaday.io project page. For further discussion and comments about the Phantom chessboard, you can join our Discord server.

Our process.

We love chess.

We believe chess holds significance for all humanity. Chess is art, history, science, creativity, passion, and so much more. So we set out to turn chess into a sculpture that pays homage to its legacy, while building a functional board that provides an exceptional experience. 

We are a team of experienced engineers and product designers with a huge passion for building robots, and we have dedicated the past 18 months to Phantom.

It has taken a lot of mechanical and electronic engineering to create a system that moves flawlessly with uttermost precision and runs for years without issues. We’ve invested hours testing our mechanisms and reviewing every last detail.

The magic of Phantom is hard to describe and must be experienced to be understood. We want you to forget there is a robot inside the board, so we tweaked everything to be invisible to the point where you can just simply enjoy it.

The pieces needed to effortlessly glide across the board without touching each other. This required a meticulous design process and significant iteration until we reached such precision.

Our goal was to create a piece of high engineering that embodies the perfection and beauty of chess, so high-quality materials and assembly methods were top priorities. We collaborated closely with wood suppliers for the pieces and the boards to create countless prototypes until we got it just right. 

After more than a year of hard work,  the Phantom board is fully developed and in final production prototyping phase. Our boards are completely integrated and we are currently working on improving the last aesthetic and functionality details to make it even better. 

Fully working prototype playing online

 Fully working prototype playing against AI

We are proud of the outstanding product we have built, and we can’t wait for it to be in chess-lover homes all over the world. 

 If you want to learn more about our process and see every step of Phantom’s development, check out our Hackaday page and follow us on Instagram.

What is the shipping price? 

Shipping will be charged on our Pledge Manager closer to the date of shipping. Shipping rates are very volatile right now, so we cannot provide an exact price. 

Currently, depending on the country, we calculate the shipping rates between $60-$125. We are working on getting the best deal for the shipping process to offer you the best rate and fastest delivery times. 

Are there taxes, duties, and VAT? 

Our price does not include any kind of fee imposed by your country. Those are regulated by the laws of each individual country, but we will do our best to minimize the additional cost. 

Risk and Challenges

We have worked in the product development industry for more than a decade, and we have built strong relationships and systems to manage complex products.

We are taking the following steps to minimize the most common issues Kickstarter campaigns face:

First of all, we are working with established suppliers. We have previously worked with our manufacturers and have created positive relationships with them. We have been developing and prototyping Phantom with their feedback since the beginning to ensure it is manufacturable and scalable.

Secondly, we have set our timeline carefully. Many campaigns are over-optimistic, so when the time comes, they can’t deliver in the promised timeline. We have taken the necessary steps to create a solid timeline and provide enough room to do everything we need to make sure we deliver an outstanding product.

And lastly, communication is the most important thing between creators and backers. That’s why we will post regular updates so you can see exactly what is happening in Phantom’s development. In the event that something goes wrong, we will always keep you updated with both the reason for the issues and what steps are we taking to solve them.

We look forward to partnering with you to bring Phantom to the world!