Chess players have always been good at, well, chess, but also finding other people to play chess with.
There are leagues, and tournaments, and teams, there was chess by mail back in the day, and today there’s any number of ways to find a game online.
If you can’t play another person, you can always face a computer.
But for many players, moving chess pieces on a computer screen or a smartphone isn’t the same as moving physical pieces on a real-world chessboard.
That means finding someone you can play with in person, right?
Maybe not, if you’ve got the new board known as Square Off.
If your opponent is nearby, it’s a regular chessboard.
If they’re somewhere else, the board can move the pieces for them.
The two remote players each set up their Square Off boards and use Bluetooth to connect them to a smartphone app.
When one player moves a piece on her or his board, the app recognizes the move, and the opponent’s board uses magnets to move the first player’s piece so that both boards are in sync.
This board sells for $369, so it’s not the cheapest way to play chess.
But it’ll have to do until we can get together with Ron Weasley’s family and borrow their wizard chess set.
Chances are there’s at least one radio station near you that’s already switched over to all holiday songs.
But there are no holiday songs quite like the YouTube video of somebody playing the melody to “Jingle Bells” on a comb.
Seriously, they just run their thumb over the teeth of the comb and you can absolutely hear the melody line of Jingle Bells.
World’s Smartest Chess Board Lets You Move Physical Pieces Without Touching Them (Oddity Central)
Now That It’s December, Here’s Jingle Bells Played on a Comb (Twisted Sifter)
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