New Chess Products - Prototype Travel Tournament Chess Board by Shelby Lohrman

Hey Everyone, 

I wanted to get opinions on a new Chess Board I am developing.  I have been selling chess equipment for 20+ years and I would like to think I hear your comments and complaints on what is currently on the market.

Right now You have a choice of 3 main varieties of travel tournament chess boards on the market:

1)  Vinyl Chess Boards

     Pro:  Easy to clean.  Pieces slide great.  Rolls up and travels great in chess bags.

     Cons:  No cushion to prolong like of weighted pieces.  Edges eventually curl.  Should never fold or crumple in bag.  Not good for play outside, wind gets under corners and can flip board.

2)  Mousepad Chess Boards

     Pro:  Cushioned surface.  The "Thin" mousepad boards travel great in bags.  No curling.  Can handle getting stuffed in a bag for limited periods of time.  Printing process allows full color printing.  Great for playing outside because the rubber backing grips surface.

     Cons:  Cloth surface gets dirty easy.  OCD Chess players pick at the threads from the cloth top.

3)  Silicone Chess Boards

     Pro:  You can do practically anything to this board.  It stretches, folds, and stores easy.  Rubber material offers some cushion for weighted pieces.  Rolls nice for bag storage.  

     Cons: Material attracts dirt.  Have to clean often.  Rubber surface does not allow pieces to slide well.  

The question arises that if someone (me) was able to take all the benefits of the all of these boards and bring it to market, do you think it would sell?  The problem is because it combines most of the positive attributes of all 3 boards, it had a LOT more steps in the production process, making it more expensive than the other 3.  It will retail in the $29.95 range.

Here are all the positive attributes of the board:

1)  Smooth surface - Pieces move amazing on it.

2)  Easy to clean

3)  Cushion backing - Great for weighted pieces and amazing for play outside. 

4)  No curling on the edges

Right now I am working with 10 pre-production samples that I just got yesterday.  They look amazing, feel heavy, and everyone I show them to have been begging me to allow them to be a beta tester.

Assuming everything goes right I will have the first run of these on my shelf the end of August, if not sooner.  I will probably go with one of my wood grain looks to start with. 

I have 2 questions for all of you in this wonderful focus group that is called the Chess.com "Books and Equipment" forum

1)  Do you think I should be going with or without notation? 

2)  Is a retail price point of $29.95 too much for a roll-up travel tournament chess board (given all the attributes 

thanks

Shelby Lohrman

American Chess Equipmenttop board is my wood grain mousepad chess board and the bottom is the new type of board.

I'd like one without notations please

1) I would prefer notations but "properly oriented" (in my mind) notation unlike in your photo. I think the letters and numbers should both appear vertically so that they maintain a consistent orientation for each side. That's the thing that always holds me off from buying your mousepad boards.

2) IMO, $30 is a fine price if the product is good.

@ShelbyLohrman  To put things in perspective, you should mention the general industry prices for each board type. Vinyl $5, Silicone $10, Mousepad $15, Woodgrain Mousepad $25, One-off Custom Mousepad $35.

When you put it in cost perspective, this new woodgrain hybrid "VinylPad" board is just $5 more than a regular woodgrain Mousepad board to get all the added benefits. When you say it like that, it's a no-brainer (for me at least). The key is consumer education. This is a product consumers didn't know they needed, until now.

AND it's Made in the USA, which you forgot to mention in Post#1. That counts for a helluva lot in my book. So much so, that it should be printed in smallest discrete type on the face of the board. In the corner by h1. With all due respect to the International members here of course. 

Re: Notation.
WHAT IF,,,, as a compromise, print the notation, but in the smallest discrete legible thin type possible? Have your cake and eat it too?

No notation for me. $29 is fine as well.

The biggest complaint I hear about these wood grain mouse pad boards. Are the numbers are printed sideways and not straight up and down. Like traditional tournament roll up boards.  

You had me at “Made in USA”

$29 is fine.  How stable is the printing though? I’d hate for it to fade.

i agree with @lotsoblots earlier algebraic notation comment. I don’t have notation on my personal boards but they should be oriented vertically like all the other ones out there. I also like your suggestion on making the fonts more discreet. As long as they are legible. 

I appreciate your Entrepreneurial Spirit. Be well.

I really like this idea, and the $29 price is no problem for me. I agree with some of the previous responses, make the row numbers vertically oriented, and use a smaller font size. Good job!

Please make it in your "walnut and maple" print with no notation (with the printing error fixed)  and i'll buy several.

29$ is a non issue. 35$ is fine really, at least for me. Id even buy one at 50$ though only one,  but I am a loon so I would not count on others to buy them at that price

I'd say with notation and $30 is a fine price point. Can't wait to order, I'm very excited.

I just watched both of your YouTube videos about this style of board.  It wasn't a wood grain prototype in the video.   I have one of your woodgrain printed mousepad boards and love it.  This idea seems brilliant.  Thirty bucks also seems like a fair introductory price.  Thanks for your innovative ideas Shelby. 

I watched the videos and was a little disappointed.  Your post here says you want to combine all of the advantages of the vinyl, mousepad, AND silicone boards, but the video makes it clear you are only combining the vinyl and mousepad features.  I really, really wish it would crumple up like a silicone board.

That said, I personally prefer the solid color squares shown in the videos compared to the woodgrain shown in your picture above.  I don't think I would purchase a woodgrain version, but the original version in the videos is tempting.

I assume you would sell more with the notation on the board, but you have to get the numbers to display vertically instead of horizontally.  The horizontal numbers shown in your photo above would prevent me from buying it.  Horizontal numbering is just... evil.  You might as well stop using Oxford commas.  It would be the End of Days.

Mornstar7,

I will do my best to get the numbers and letters on the side of the board oriented the way you guys want.  We will be going with a new dark wood grain design you have not seen before.

thanks

Shelby Lohrman

American Chess Equipment

Very excited to see it!

I hope it isn't as dark as the Wenge mouse pad board you are selling. Not very good for Black pieces. Blends way too much.

Dark squares on this board are way to dark for black pieces.

KnightsForkCafe,

Funny, that is my best selling board by a factor of 30%.  It goes:

1)  Wenge/Rosewood/Lightwood

2)  Rosewood/Figured Maple (My Favorite)

3)  Walnut/Figured Maple

4)  Camphor Burl

5)  Walnut Burl

Thanks,

Shelby Lohrman

American Chess Equipment