PHANTOM: The Automated Chessboard

One question what will happen for pawn promotion

Mine is back in its box at the moment (to make room on our dining table) so I searched the Phantom Discord channel and found:

Simply place your pawn on the opposite location, and the app will display the piece you wish to retrieve. If the piece is available off the board, it will automatically replace the piece. However, if it is not available, you will need to manually replace your pawn with the queen.

They are also prototyping a feature where you leave the spare Qs on graveyard squares, so they promotion can be automatic. I'm not sure about under-promotion, although this is quite rare (see https://www.facebook.com/billygatechess/posts/pfbid0zbL3sqWCEpL6kqs6GBP1ke5T4RwpZ96ULinjES79KcZzPCfe6DxwkfrgNpGjBNsl).

So people have actually gotten these boards? I was one of the first backers and I keep getting the run around, they keep making excuses and say it's coming right away then nothing.

Yes, many people have the Phantom and there is a busy and useful Discord support channel. I've moved my July 2025 video to https://www.billygatechess.com/posts/phantom.

so you got a unit a year ago, while the rest of us, get punted on over and over. to be frank looks like this is another shill for the scam.

Suit yourself. I was just trying to be helpful. Being petulant and accusing me of being a shill is not going to get your Phantom any sooner.

I got mine within the past year. It is worth the wait. I am on the discord server as well. No need to accuse people of scams. I bet you haven’t updated your address correctly or your payment card or something. What are they saying when you message them?

they have my correct information, they told me would be shipped in 6week 8 months ago, 3 months ago I reached out and they said oh we are making some really cool updates do you want to wait for those? I said no, I'll take the current model. then 2 weeks ago I reached out and said I have not received a tracking no or notification. The responded with, well we know you said you were fine with the old one but we decided to send you the new one, since there was Chinese new year work stopped. Once they start back up it will be 9 weeks to ship to you. They just keep pushing it 3 months despite showing posts saying they are selling new units and people are getting them. Feels pretty fishy. We are going on what 5 years now?

I wonder if it's related to US tariff lunacy, if they are shipping from China to the US?

That does sound frustrating but I promise they sent me mine and it’s a working work of art. I know you will be delighted when it does arrive!

they haven't said anything about a reason, or additional costs, they just keep saying oh it's on the way and when we get it it will take 9 weeks to ship (after it gets to the us from China. All the while on their facebook people are talking about getting new units they just ordered. If they sent me a message after the time frame they gave elapsed, I would understand but they don't, the just make a 3 month excuse every three months for the last year after I reach out to them. So I will post my skepticism and disapproval everywere I can until I get my unit.

Never mind I see you are from Scotland.

That's one strategy, let's just hope they don't prioritise backers who are more positive.

Very tempted to get a Phantom. Can anyone confirm if you can play the bots on Chess.com over the board?

Yes, you can play against Chess dotcom bots with the Phantom, you do this via the Phantom app. Besides that, you have Stockfish, Maia, and other AIs available directly in the Phantom app.

What is the Phantom Chessboard discord channel???

Email https://www.phantomchessboard.com/support for a Discord invite.