In terms of equipment, chess as well as checkers are simple games — just a handful of pieces as well as a checkered gameboard. The simplicity conceals the underlying complexity of the games, though, as well as goes a long method toward explaining their popularity over the millennia.

Increasing the complexity with an interactive game board for chess as well as checkers may seem counterintuitive, then. But [Bogdan Berg]’s job aims to not only teach checkers as well as chess however to make games a bit more interesting as well as engaging. Looking a bit like a tabletop version of the interactive dance floors we’ve been seeing a great deal of lately, the board is developed from laser-cut acrylic with plywood dividers to isolate all 64 squares. Neopixels as well as Hall-effect sensors are mounted to custom PCBs that stretch the length of a row as well as are wired to an Arduino Mega with great deals of IO. game pieces are vibrant fridge magnets. [Bogdan]’s present program supports checkers and keeps track of where the pieces have been moved family member to their starting setting as well as prompts individuals with possible legal moves.

[Bogdan]’s board already appears like a great deal of fun in the video below, as well as we like the high quality of the develop as well as the unobtrusive nature of the interactivity. When he gets around to implementing chess, though, he might want something fancier than fridge magnets for game pieces.