Dedicated piece design

[Reinfeld]

Just musing - within the world of plastic tabletops, what's the group's feeling on the piece design of major dedicated machine manufacturers?

First caveat: I cannot speak for dedicated wood, since I don't own any, I've never seen it in person and I'm not sure I will seek it in the near term. Apart from Citrine, the cost is too painful for my circumstances. I know the TASC machines are much loved. They certainly look pretty. I know there's an "outside" set specifically designed for Citrine (and I know Steve B frowns on that from a purist collectible perspective, which is a fair point.)

Second caveat: I don't know the Sphinx machines or the CXGs or other obscurities, so I can't speak to those either.

Given all these parameters, here's my rough rating list, from best to worst:

1. Excalibur GM
2. Fidelity (most models)
3. Novag A (wood pieces for Obsidian and Citrine)
4. Mephisto/Saitek
5. Novag B (plastic)
6. Other Excalibur models

I like big, tournament-size pieces, and I prefer traditional design. Ever find yourself playing on someone's Franklin Mint fantasy set or a set of quartz blocks and forgetting which piece is which? (For real chess, I recently picked up a gorgeous Reykjavik set from the House of Staunton. Ebonized boxwood, Staunton design circa Fischer-Spassky. That outlet sells occasional markdowns on ebay - well worth your time, despite rather excessive shipping costs.)

Excalibur, despite the overall hint of tackiness, really hit the mark with the GM's size and heft, IMHO. I love that machine. It makes up for the crap pieces they provided with Igor and other plastic models.

Fidelity's plastic pieces never changed, apart from color - and the size for the tabletops, especially the Designers, always felt just right to me. Good bishops.

The Mephisto sets are OK, but slightly boring to me. Novag's wooden set for Obsidian was a nice idea, but the pieces aren't that pretty. Lousy knights. Their plastic is only slightly better than Excalibur. The knights are too slanted.

- R.

[Larry]

For me the right pieces are the Obsidian pieces. I use them for all my
chess computers, except of course for the auto sensory boards. For those
I use the plastic magnetic base pieces designed for the mephisto modular
boards. All other piece sets may as well stay in their containers.
For bad pieces, I include the Saitek pieces. They don't have velvet under
them so I don't like using them on an expensive pressure sensitive board.
You have to press harder, and will eventually form concave squares on
the playing surface.
At the worst end of the scale are the junk pieces for the Radio Shack 2250XL.
When I play that game I find it best to press the squares with my finger.
LH

[Steve B]

1. Excalibur GM
I like big, tournament-size pieces, and I prefer traditional design. Excalibur, despite the overall hint of tackiness, really hit the mark with the GM's size and heft, IMHO. I love that machine.

Have to agree with you there..love those heavy pieces..not to mention ..they stand up well to being tossed about the room in anger when i lose to the GM
the GM is fashioned after the vinyl green-white boards used in weekend Swiss Tournaments in the US
those pieces are exactly the piece sets you use at the tournaments
BTW..did you know the GM was also released in a different version called the Platinum?
same exact program but different color scheme
happens to be one on Ebay..even as we speak:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Excalibur-Grand-Mas ... 0392620656

Anger Management Regards
Steve