“While the board, the pieces, and the carry bag are all very nice, the Android version of the app is unreliable at best, and to be honest, when I ordered this 2 years ago I was playing a lot of chess and thought this would help improve my otb game. Now I don't play much anymore and I don't think this board will change that.”
Hi Daniel,
thanks for your review! We are aware of issues with the Android app and are working non-stop to get them fixed.
Thanks for your understanding!
“I will have to admit that this ChessUp board is a bit too complicated for me. I lent it to my daughter to figure it out. I very much appreciated all the extras such as the carry case.”
“The board arrived in perfect condition and played well. The team kept up with updates regularly throughout the process, and I am completely satisfied with the project. Good luck in the future.”
“My review will be in two separate parts, the board and the app.
The board (5/5):
It is amazing. The board alone would be more than 5/5 stars. It has re-ignited my love for chess and I'm having an absolute blast playing with it. The touch detection is top tier and it feels extremely satisfying to touch a piece and have the squares light up. The onboard AI is also generally pretty fast and it just feels really good. Again, I absolutely love this chess board and I show it to everyone who comes over whether they want to see it or not.
The App (1/5):
Bluntly, the app is hot garbage. It's clear that they didn't have time to put much work into it yet (which I don't blame them for). The battery indicator just picks a random percentage every time you start the app to show. There is a game I started from app the day I got the board that I am unable to end or forfeit so it just stays there. Sometimes when I start a game on the app the AI doesn't do their move and the game never really starts. The only feature available currently in the app is setting up and starting a game, but that only works about 50% of the time for me so I just do it directly on the board instead.
I really wish I could give this 5 stars, and I'm extremely hopeful they will fix the issues with the app, but for now I am very conflicted between loving the board and feeling frustrated that I can't use all of the settings because the app doesn't work.”
“The board itself works and is nice, but the promised software falls completely flat. The main draw of this purchase to me was the prospect of playing online via Lichess. I honestly cannot recommend this board unless you are only going to play OTB.”
“I still don't understand what colour I must use from a low to a high rating on your chess computer
Is a low rating: green and a high rating: blue?
P. Jansen - the Netherlands
E mail: eurosys@telfort.nl”
Hi there! When you start a game using the app and adjust the assistance level, the meaning of each color is displayed.
You can also take a look at this help article that goes over all colors at all assistance levels: https://bryghtlabs.helpscoutdocs.com/article/66-ai-assistance
If you need any further assistance please contact us info@bryghtlabs.com
Thanks!
“The board feels incredibly satisfying to play on. The pieces are made out of very solid, heavy plastic with felt on the bottom and look awesome. Everything makes a very high quality and robust impression. The software needs some more work, but that's known. Judging only the hardware you get that's an easy 5/5. The colors of the lights and the way they light up is just on point.
What I would like to see is a way to connect the chessup board to lichess directly, like other smartboards. But perhaps that requires full piece recognition. Anyway, the apps need to be further improved when it comes to stability and online play options. I Assume that over time, this will happen, so I can fully recommend this product.”
“After viewing a demonstration of ChessUp by the whispering Dane on Youtube, I ordered the board.
I received my ChessUp Bundle, on November 2,
in Sydney, Australia. I am absolutely delighted with my purchase, product quality, prompt dispatch, and delivery.
My thanks go to the team who made that happen!
Congratulation Team Bryght Labs, excellent effort!”
“I just received my ChessUp Bundle and I am soooooooo happy with it! You did an amazing job! This electronic chessboard is just the best in class. Congrats guys! Now I have to improve my chess skills with built-in assistance mode!”
“My ChessUp board arrived right on schedule and I am completely thrilled with it. It was well packaged and the board, carry bag, phone stand, etc all are in flawless condition. Setup, from leveling to updating and initial play went smoothly and intuitively. I have already played against the AI and it performed perfectly.
I have started to explore the training and learning program. It is easy to follow along, providing clear instruction. The integration between my iPhone and the chessboard is perfect. I will set up my iPad next.
I was particularly impressed with the production/manufacturing quality of everything - pieces, software, board, etc. As an early Kickstarter subscriber, I was particularly impressed with the communication I received throughout this process. If you are considering this purchase I can highly recommend it to you.
I am a novice in my 70s and after just a few days with this board I now have the confidence that I can learn and enjoy this greatest of games. I could not ask for more.
Jim”
“Understanding the board is still very new to the market I will give my honest review of the product after owning it for close to a month now. I have used this at my workplace to play with students and found that the added assist can make for a very interesting game despite a huge rating difference. Using the board's light-up feature is a massive selling point as it attracts other students to play. People with no chess knowledge can still play as the moves light up for them. I find the board and the pieces to be very high quality although my white piece's paint seems to be a little distorted. Furthermore knowing the app is still in a very early design phase on android there are still many bugs that detract from the experience of playing on this fantastic product. Finally, I have loved using it and find myself playing OTB much more than I have in the past with the app being reasonably stable it is quite easy to play a game or two but I can not wait to see a more optimised app that will allow a better chess expireance. Highly recommend.”
“I was an early adopter through the Kickstarter campaign and just received my order. I wanted to take a moment to thank you and your team for the incredible communication throughout the process and share how impressed I was with the quality of the ChessUp set and the ease of use with the start-up guide and app.
I can only imagine that delivering a new product is challenging and the additional complexity associated with COVID and supply-chain issues created even more of a challenge, but you and your team have consistently shared updates throughout the entire process. I've just started to use my ChessUp set but I'm looking forward to playing with family and friends and wanted to say "thank you" to the team for developing and delivering an awesome product. The attention to detail is obvious and ChessUp should introduce the game of Chess to many new players and expand our love of the game to those that play often.
Dale”
“I am a total beginner, and I appreciate being able to choose the level of AI help available. I feel like I am beginning to actually learn (just a little).”
“I think the chess set is amazing. I love the piece recognition and the colorful squares. The only complaint I have is that I assumed it was shelf ready. The main reason I bought it is a learning tool however there are no lessons as of yet and no opening book. Also I thought I would be able to play on chess.com which I can't at the moment and I have trouble connecting to Lichess. I'm also not a very good player but I should be able to be 100 setting on the app however I lose every time. I suggest you check to ensure that it is set up for the proper ratings.”
“The ChessUp board is a revolutionary idea, I was very excited to be a part of the first to get them. However, there are some things that I feel are a short fall so far.
1. The board is quite sensitive in a sense where I don't even touch pieces before they light up, causing the board to glitch out.
2. The board does not recognise the unique pieces, if you set the board up wrong it still recognises the wrong piece as the correct one. So you can play a pawn as a queen and vice versa.
3. The are features that we're promised on the app that are not available yet, not being ungrateful, but most backers have waited 2 years for this product and for it not to be fully ready is disappointing.
4. I feel like the integration between board and phone is currently lack luster, the app often recognises the wrong battery level and when you look at a past game or try and reset the pieces on the board it freaks out and you have to restart the board more than once to resolve it.
Now some pros
1. The pieces feel great, they're the right weight and feel and comparable to much higher quality pieces
2. The idea of the ChessUp board is very much present and exciting
Overall, plenty of things to work on, but also things to be proud of. I he no doubt this will be a household product in the future đ”
