[misprit7]

Hey, I'm the one who made this! My video on it probably does a better job of explaining it than the github so I'd recommend checking that out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7VtSK23_Jg

If anyone has any questions about the engineering process/game itself I'd be happy to answer.

[sparky_z]

Does the system of electromagnets do anything to enforce legal vs illegal moves? Seems like another way for your untrustworthy friends to cheat. When your opponent's distracted, just put your queen anywhere you like.

Also, is there a rule about moving one piece at a time? I was surprised I didn't see anyone two-handing it. If it were me, my opening move would be to grab 4 pawns at one (2 in each hand) and shifting them all forward two spaces. That would have been my first instinct.

[misprit7]

No. The intention with the electromagnets wasn't really to prevent malicious cheating, just mostly to enforce cooldowns since it's very easy to forget/miss the different color of lights. The games are generally very chaotic and due to user error there are usually a few incorrect touches throughout the game that have to be quickly corrected manually anyways, so enforcing legal moves wouldn't make the experience better.

As for moving multiple pieces at once, the rule I have is only one hand and one piece at a time. This goes a long way towards preventing accidental bumps into other pieces and weird board states where there are multiple pieces in the process of being moved at once.

[joymonger]

I'd agree that the video is much more captivating. It's really an incredible and innovative piece of hardware. I am curious, did you ever arrange a meetup with Magnus?

[misprit7]

No :(

[spuz]

I'd really love to see some high level players try it. Did you get anywhere with letting Hikaru have a go? I know that he said he would be interested when he watched your video.

[paladin314159]

I love it! I'm the one who recreated Kung Fu Chess at kfchess.com. Very impressed at you bringing it to life -- definitely at least 100x harder to do :)

[Mekaniko]

Cool thing.

How do you handle the interaction between 2 pieces being moved at the same time ? Can I dodge a capture by picking up a piece ? Say 2 rooks are facing each other, how do you handle a mutual capture attempt ?

I have solved this problem, but still in a turn based setting :

* Both player choose their move, and moves are resolved simultaneously

* A piece cannot be moved 2 turns in a row (discrete cooldown time)

* When 2 pieces land at the same place, they are both considered captured.

* If they move in straight lines, in opposite direction, they are also both captured.

* NO CAPTURE for pieces crossing each other path / knights can exchange their positions.

* No pat. A player can skip his turn.

* the goal is to capture the oposite king obviosuly, not to checkmake it.

With a low blitz time, it solves the same fundamental problem as RT chess, but it can only be played online.

From a few test game, it looks like basic chess structure is preserved. But then there is the question of finding the Nash equilibirum of the game ! 2by2-simultaneous-move-chess with both rook and king leads to some sort of rock-paper-scissor.

[j_bum]

I loved your video when YouTube recommended it several months back!!

Congrats on such a cool build and for making the front page.

[time0ut]

Very cool. I also really enjoyed your Terraria wiring computer and the wiring mod you made. Keep it up!

[misprit7]

Thanks!

[publicola1990]

The transcript of the video doesn't really work that well as the intro text in GitHub. The tone of it feels haughty, before even it has entered into the main details of the project. My suggestion is to rewrite it toning down the things that work on video but not as standalone text.

[alwa]

For what it’s worth, I didn’t find it “haughty” or tonally inappropriate at all (I thought it was fun and cute, and the right kind of unserious tone for a hacking-for-fun project).

If we’re doing a line-level read, though, it did take me a lot of reading to understand what the project was. Nothing that couldn’t be addressed with one more massage of your subhead “a physical chess board without the concept of turns”!

Super cool project, incredible execution, and you’re so personable—thank you for this work and your video!