By Caleb Goellner in
Daily Lists, Merchandise
Thursday, Feb. 25 2010 @ 7:59AM
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9) Super Mario Chess
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8) Lego Castle Chess
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7) Sesame Street
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6) Harry Potter Wizard Chess
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5) Spider-Man
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4) Doctor Who
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3) Transformers
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2) Star Trek Tri-Dimensional Chess
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1) Star Wars
While it's safe to say that most SW fans would rather watch holograms of monsters rendered in claymation strom a Dejarik board, the franchise's Earthly chess offerings come close to compensating. There've been abundant physical chess sets produced through the years, usually pitting The Rebel Alliance against The Galactic Empire, but the most entertaining version may actually run closer to Dejarik than you think. The "Star Wars Chess" video game released for PC and Sega CD in 1994 provided fans with hilariously violent animated confrontations between everyone from Boba Fett and R2-D2 to lowly Stormtroopers and Sand People. If you've ever longed to watch an astromech murder a Mandalorian without the use of thrusters that defy the laws of physics, this is the chess game for you.
83 comments
Comments
FireKraken said:
A lot of these boards look way too busy. I guess if I was more of a chess aficionado perhaps it wouldn't seek so distracting, or maybe if I just played through a few times, but that's my first impression anyway. Not to shit in your cornflakes. Interesting sets.
RunnerX13 replied to FireKraken:
Just looking at the Lego board gives me a headache.
Jerry replied to FireKraken:
I think Bobby Fischer once killed a man for using one of these.
Lover replied to FireKraken:
Foolishness = http://bit.ly/cEfy2a
Patrick McNamara replied to FireKraken:
I think some of the sets were made more for show than play. The LEGO set looks ridiculously busy and could be hard on the eyes. Although practically all the sets, aside from maybe the HP set (which is as close to a standard set as any), could require some concentration to remember what piece stands for what character.
Anonymous said:
What about the incredible and hard to find Aliens set?
giganfan said:
The Godzilla final wars chess set was pretty slick.
Cygnus said:
i used to have that HP chess set. oh, the memories...
trekkie nerd said:
The Franklin mint made a beautiful officially licensed tri-dimensional chess set.
CTrees replied to trekkie nerd:
Yeah, that error surprised me.
Jonathon Miller replied to trekkie nerd:
They did. In fact I put my way through school for a while selling them. We used to pass time in the store by playing. I usually sold them to overly excited nerds, and women who embarrassed to be buying them.
rasmodeus replied to trekkie nerd:
And ironically(?) enough, the Franklin Mint version of the tri-dimensional chess board looks a lot better than the one in the Star Trek picture.
I've kept mine in the original box... >_>
Melefim replied to trekkie nerd:
I actually know the guy who came up with the official rules for tri-d chess- he's a friend of my family. I think he still sells official rulebooks. He's a pretty cool guy-- He actually has a lifesize original series Tardis console that he built from scratch in his basement. His whole family are just made of Sci-fi awesomeness.
RunnerX13 said:
A roommate from college had the Simpsons chess set, kind of poorly made. I have a Batman Chess set, which I love!
http://www.superherostuff.com/OtherItems/ChessSets/Batman_Chess_Set2.gif
RGC said:
I remember once, at a party, I was really bored, so I played a round of Star Wars chess against myself to keep busy. I actually managed to set things up so the Dark Side King was surrounded by the Good Guys at the end without having to fudge the results.
I must admit, I was a tough opponent.
RunnerX13 said:
Ha, I just realized that Luigi is Mario's queen.
Space Monkey X said:
I wanted the Lego Castle chess board, but unfortunately it was too much for my budget even before it was sold out, doubling or even tripling its price. The Mario set looks to be fairly affordable, so I might pick that up at some point.
I remember a very nice looking Tintin chess set I saw about a decade ago in a specialty store. Based on what little information I was able to find on the Internet, it was a limited edition (either 1000 or 2000 made, accounts seem to vary) and goes for several thousands nowadays.
Frosty said:
Super nerdy Chess game called shuuro where you build an army of chess peices using points and play on a twelve by twelve board.
Sundowner said:
So for the transformers chess set, Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime and Starscream are the queens? that's just too perfect.
JOE replied to Sundowner:
Actually, it looks like Galvatron is the queen. There are two Starscreams. I'm curious as to who's what in that version. I'm guessing Starscream would be a knight.
SimplePoster said:
There's something kind of horrifying about seeing Chewie, Luke and Leia being taken out by a Stormtrooper.
Fencerdenoctum replied to SimplePoster:
I think this is one of the rare instances where a stormtrooper actually hits his target.
NorthSteve replied to SimplePoster:
A stormtrooper who does his damn job!
And watching luke get taken down by an astromech droid with his own lightsaber made my week.
Krakes said:
Boba Fett pimp-slapping C3P0 ftw.
zukuss replied to Krakes:
Vader shaking the shit out of Leia was pretty awesome, too.
Doughboy1337 said:
Why would the star wars chess set bother animating Skywalker killing Palpatine or vice versa? It's impossible for a king to kill a king in chess. Moving a king next to another king would be putting yourself in checkmate, and is therefore an illegal move.
Rocket Raccoon replied to Doughboy1337:
That was probably the final animation if one side beat the other.
DangerDon replied to Doughboy1337:
In Star Wars Chess, the final animation is a character from the winning side defeating the enemy king. The winning side piece is chosen randomly from the set of pieces that participated in the checkmate. That includes the checking piece(s), plus other pieces that are preventing the king from escaping, pinning potential interposing pieces, etc. In this way, the player will get to see a king vs. king animation in certain checkmates.
James said:
WOOOOW, I can't believe the D&D Dragons Chess Set isn't here!
Sara said:
No Lord of the Rings set either :(
I thought the board looked pretty sweet, would I pay $495 for it, no.
http://www.noblecollection.com/catalog/product.cfm?id=NN2990&catid=17
mythbri replied to Sara:
I have a LOTR chess set, but it's made of rubber - not high quality. And no one will play with me because it is "too confusing". What's confusing about it? It's Good vs. Evil!
Rattrap007 said:
seeing the star wars Chess brought back memories. So much fun watching those deaths again..
yamieridani said:
The star wars chess game reminds me of battle chess 3000 for DOS. That was fun; even had light sabers.
McQ said:
Oh man. I love the Doctor Who one... I want I want!
Ted said:
I enjoyed C3PO accidentally killing everyone - "Oh dear!"
Rocket Raccoon said:
Man, that Simpsons set does not match up to anything else on this list.
Michael said:
What, no mention so far of Archon?
rasmodeus replied to Michael:
Well Archon never existed outside of the video game, so that's why it may not have been considered.
Archon was one of my all time favorite games though. I remember getting Wrath Unleashed in the hope it could rekindle that feeling again, and while it was a good game, just didn't match up to the strategy/twitch factor of Archon.
Michael replied to rasmodeus:
Yeah, I'm not surprised Archon wasn't on the list because it's not a physical set. I just figured as nerdy as this crowd is, it'd be mentioned before post 20.
james said:
had no idea that doctor who chess set even existed.
must. have.
The Man With Two Brains replied to james:
Same here!
I'd probably never use it, though. I just want it!
Baltimoron said:
I can't believe that Goombas are the black rooks in the SMB chess set. The weakest enemy in the game should not be one of the most powerful pieces on the board.
Just sayin'.
Geoff said:
Luigi is the Queen in the Mario set...
... there's so many jokes there that I'm not even going to bother.
(props to them for including Daisy, though. The designers must've been Mario Golf fans.)
scott said:
Sesame Street before Lego? Blasphemy!
Wiredwizard said:
The Dr. Who set looks pretty awesome to me. I guess one day I should learn how to play chess to justify getting a set like that...
choHIlqoq said:
Hahaha, Hot Rod as the Queen,that little *****.
And Insecticons as pawns.LOL
Still better than Bayformers.
DoctorSmashy said:
I have 10, 9, 8 and 4. Unfortunately I suck at chess (Although I like to play it I rarely last long). I also like the Spider-Man set.
I always thought the pawns in the Mario set were 'miscast', though. Surely the obvious choice for Bowser's pawns is the Goombas, not the shells - make the blue shells the rooks. Or Piranha Plants. And the coins shouldn't really be there, either, he Mushroom Kingdom pawns should have been Toads.
boredatwork replied to DoctorSmashy :
'Although I like to play it I rarely last long'
There is a sex joke in there somewhere...
DoctorSmashy replied to boredatwork:
Oh, you big kidder.
*breaks down in tears*
Regicide said:
Dude, at least tell us every character featured, and what piece they represent.
This article is not satisfying to nerd fans of a particular franchise, or chess nerds.
The Metal Soldier said:
Wait a minute! Why was Han Solo not in the Star Wars Chess game? That doesn't make sense.
Anonymous replied to The Metal Soldier:
Han is in the background during the gameplay frozen in cabonite. I played many a game of this back in the 90s.
Beppo said:
Is the opposing Doctor Who king The Master and the opposing queen The Rani?
Because if it is I want one.
wotness said:
The Doctor Who chess set looks really good. I'm not really a fan of having all the pieces the same color (despite the bases having a border with a certain color). And I'm not sure if I am completely taken by the shiny silvery look. But the set up with all the characters looks great.
The HP board is probably my least favorite. It looks like a generic fantasy chess board. I know that's how the living chess pieces looked like in the movie, but what made them interesting was that they "lived", moved on their own and destroyed the other. Without that gimmick, it looks pretty normal.
I agree with FireKraken that some of the sets look too busy. They should have probably tone the color down or have more room on the board.
If it comes to video game chess, I have three favorites. Two of them with a fantasy theme and animated sequences. I only remember the name of one of those; Battle Chess.
Stick92 replied to wotness:
The chess game in one of the Mortal Kombats wasn't that bad.
SpiderHyphenMan said:
Seeing Yoda use the force to make a stormtrooper shoot himself in the head while laughing maniacally is probably the most terrifying thing I have ever seen.
Rocco said:
I own the Simpsons and Mario sets.. I also own a really expensive oriental chess set. Amazingly enough, coming from a Trekkie family, I don't own a 3-D chess set. Probably because there isn't an officially licensed one. We do however have Star Trek scrabble.
Shel said:
As a huge CLAMP fan I can't forgive not mentioning the CLAMP chess set: http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee358/haruhixkonata/Misc/1.jpg
I own every single piece (except the special edition bored from Japan and extra Kero and Spinal King pieces...) and it's a LOVELY set! Not sure why they come with extra pieces, but the more CLAMP the better!
Anonymous said:
Where's Lord of the Rings Chess?
bgoul030 said:
I want the lego set. It looks awesome. But damn, 589$...
Anybody want to donate?
Stick92 said:
What about four-way chess?
James said:
I have a Justice League set and a Muppets set, both of which I am dismayed to not see on this list.
Thriftir said:
How about an "FFFriday" chess set? That would be interesting to say the least.
DragonMyAce replied to Thriftir:
Couldn't happen. Because there are no "good guys" in FFFridays. It's ALL EVIL!
demoncat said:
that Lego chess set wonder how many who had it got tempted to take the pieces apart and rebuild and remember how hilerious that hot rod and star scream were the queens in the transformers one guess they forgot about putting in arcee or wheelie. as for the spider man set only bad part it did not have mary jane as a queen or a queen for the bad guys.
demoncat said:
only in the star wars chess can r2 mange to pawn Vader and Boba fett did not fair well some times. plus yoda being taken down by a storm trooper . plus loved chewbacca ramming everything in the star wars chess
Asat replied to demoncat:
Chewbacca going all "8 Seconds" on that AT-ST is worth the price of the disc alone, and well worthy of the word "majestic". And now I can think of yet another way that the prequels could have been excellent but weren't.
Kellyanne said:
Holy crap, I want that Star Wars game!!
Church said:
My (much older) cousin had a Trek style 3-D set back in the early seventies. I learned to play partially on that board.
forester said:
Doctor who chess on ebay:
Hope I didn't break any rules posting this here, but I don't think anyone will be buying it any time soon. (It's over $10,000)
Ad said:
Didn't Big Bang Theory get hold of the multi-dimensional chess set in one of their episodes?
STEVE said:
i still have a 'real' 3D trek set that the franklin mint produced when i was a kid, along with a complete set of rules
Pink Frankenstein said:
The Simpsons and Sesame Street sets totally miss the opportunity to have opposed forces. Homer king should be across from Monty Burns king with Smithers as queen. I think the whole point of these chess sets is to accentuate that dichotomy of characters. Thus The Simpsons is a big fail in my book.
As someone noted, most of these sets are too busy and not really good sets to play on. And it is missing the Bauhaus set which shows that this isn't really an article for chess players.
ED said:
Why does making rules about business conduct require "infinite" money and resources?
When it comes to safeguarding Americans' lives and safety, it seems to me a public option to compete with private insurers would have a far better cost-to-benefit ratio than... say, most of the wars we've been engaged in for the last 50 years.
Erik Pan said:
I think you'll find that the official version of tri-D chess has been made, and is available to buy on the internet. My uncle had a set while I was growing up.
LoX said:
Am surprised there's been no mention of the circular chess set..
Badger said:
So if The Master and The Rani are king and queen on the evil side of the Dr. Who chess set, who's queen on the good side? Please tell me it's Romana, or at least Leela? Because if it's Peri, I'll be forced to scream.
Randy of AFTimes said:
Acually, whiles badass, SOTA's Transformes chess set never saw the light o' day.
Only two were produced and they are both in SOTA Toys' offices. How do I know? SOTA Toys President Guang Yang is sitting across the table from me right now. So let's ask him:
"Sorry but the G1 chess set was never approved by Hasbro and we never released them. We prototyped two sets at the time. One of them is in my office."
Thanks Guang!
Randy of AFTimes said:
Acually, whiles badass, SOTA's Transformes chess set never saw the light o' day.
Only two were produced and they are both in SOTA Toys' offices. How do I know? SOTA Toys President Guang Yang is sitting across the table from me right now. So let's ask him:
"Sorry but the G1 chess set was never approved by Hasbro and we never released them. We prototyped two sets at the time. One of them is in my office."
Thanks Guang!
Now I'm back to gaming...
joel said:
hey!!!! ireally have a star wars chess, it haves characters like darthh vader, darth maul, luke, princess leia and obi one
