Robot chess set

32 robots in two armies, terracotta against cream, on a board you lock together from 4 printed quarters.

The full set at its starting position: the terracotta army on the left rank, the cream army on the right, on a grey and black board.

Four quarters

The board is too big to print in one piece, so it comes in 4. Each is a 8.5 in square of the board, sixteen squares apiece.

Eight keys

8 bow-tie keys press into dovetail pockets under the seams and pull the quarters into one flat 17.0 in square board.

Cream walks on

8 pawns first, then the back rank. Each one stands on its own 2.1 in square.

Terracotta answers

The other 16 take their ranks. Kings on the e-file, queens on their own colour, a dark square in each player's left corner.

Face to face

The pieces are robots, and they look across the board at each other. Pawns get one big eye; the king gets a visor and a cross on top.

Your move

The king's pawn steps forward two squares, and terracotta answers in kind. From here on the set is yours.

Six robots a side

Each rank climbs in height, so you can tell a bishop from a queen at a glance across the table. The cream side wears a six-petal badge on its chest; terracotta wears a sun.

The six cream pieces in a row from the front: pawn, rook, knight in profile, bishop, queen with a crown, and king with a visor and cross, with six-petal badges and dark olive trim.
  1. Pawn2.0 in
  2. Rook2.2 in
  3. Knight2.4 in
  4. Bishop2.7 in
  5. Queen3.3 in
  6. King3.7 in
The six terracotta pieces in the same order, with light trim, sun emblems and black eyes and visors.
Low view across the board at the terracotta back rank: pawns with single round eyes in front, the queen and the king with dark visors behind.
The terracotta back rank from a pawn's height.
Two pawns facing each other in the middle of the board after the opening moves, cream seen from behind and terracotta face on.
After 1. e4 e5, two pawns meet in the middle.
Diagram: the four board quarters pulled apart and seen from below, with the bow-tie keys floating under the dovetail pockets they fit into.

Why the board comes in four

A 17.0 in square board is bigger than most printer beds. Splitting it along the centre lines keeps every seam on a square edge, where the eye expects a line anyway.

Underneath, each seam has two dovetail pockets. A key pressed into each one holds the quarters flush. Rank numbers and file letters are inlaid in a darker or lighter shade along the edge squares, so the board reads the right way round for notation.

What you get

Set up
17.0 × 17.0 × 4.0 in
Pieces
32, 16 a side
Board
4 quarters and 8 keys
Printed parts
44
Squares
2.1 in
Tallest piece
King, 3.7 in
Colours
Terracotta and cream armies with olive and black detail, on a grey and black board