I used to work at a high end gift shop when I was just out of university, and i sold a $1300 (US) chess set. It was Swarovski crystal. Pretty sweet.

Looks like they set up the white pieces wrong in the photo below 

I played on one of those 3D Star Trek-y boards a long time ago.  Since I was just starting out and no good anyway, it didn't affect my play much, but it was sort of a bummer because the guy whose set it was was unclear on the rules (whether you could switch levels to get out of check, etc.)

This would be an amazing chess set to play with, if you're Magnus Carlsen (from the series Doctor Who)

The Doctor asks for the weakest link. Cut to a game of live chess with a magnificently make-upped Mark Gatiss as Gantok. (It’s called live chess because the pieces gain electric voltage when they’re played). Gantok promises to give the Doctor what he wants if the Doctor concedes the game.

http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Doctor-Who-Wedding-of-River-Song-trailer-14.jpg

Edit: Basicly, for every time you touch a piece the voltage of the shock you get grows exponentialy. So if you bring your queen out fast and your opponent chases it, you'll have to get it to safety fast, before you get zapped with 50,000 volts :P

hahnda, that set is nice.  great idea, for them to make the glass sets with one color solid black.  whenever you use the glass sets with clear and frosted people start getting confused about which pieces are theirs as soon as they start to lose :P

I usually find my novelty set makes me play worse, dont know why though 

 

That looks like a proper challenge

i haVe played bughouse, Space chess, Kinghtmare chess, and I own a harry Potter set  

I got a nice Chess set that features the Eight Immortals from Chinese legend as the pawns. I got it on ebay for around a hundred bucks.

It's just for looks, the board squares are a bit hard to see.