new mousepads boards at American Chess Equipment

Yeah that one is pretty good.  I still prefer anything but bright white for the light squares:

That's a handsome board, but I wouldn't own it because the dark squares are too dark IMO....however, I do tend to agree with your preference that the light squares be a little more of an off-white, rather than bright white hue. 

My whole point is that the squares, both light and dark, should contrast well with both the light and the dark pieces....the pastels meet that requirement, are less strain on the eyes (when staring at a board for long periods), and are pleasant to look at...

Light, colors and contrast as pertains to vision is my area of expertise, as I am an optometrist. There are situations and times where we need to have certain wavelengths of light, color, accentuated to increase contrast and thereby visual acuity and visual comfort for extended viewing tasks.

The green and buff board colors have been a tournament.standard in the USA for a good reason. It gives optimal contrast with the pieces while being comfortable to the eyes asa background for extended periods of time as in Chess games.

Yes, wood boards and pieces are the standard across the Atlantic and in higher level events.  You will note that the dark squares are not the same color as the dark pieces to provide contrast.  And the wood colors are not too bright to cause a strain or bleaching effect on the cones of the eyes, which are the photoreceptor cells that give you your 20/20 or crisper vision.

You do not see those bright, pastel colors on chess boards in typical tournaments.  They are too bright and will cause visual fatigue to the cones, as a rule.

I personally use The Chess House FlexPad board in green for most of my games with a roll up board.  In fact I just received three of them without notation.  And of course there is no logo.  I also got one of their olive boards to see how it works, primarily with my Walnut dark pieces.

For my wood boards I pretty much am always using one of my two Colorado Woodworking boards.  I have one in Rosewood, Maple and a Cherry border for use with my sets with Black and Dark Rosewood pieces.  My second one has Walnut, Maple, and a Cherry border for Ouse with my sets that have Walnut or Sheesham like woods.  And I assure you that none of my board dark squares is identical to any of my dark pieces.  And of course there are no notation or logo markings on these boards. 

Consider that white is the "brightest" color in the visual spectrum - certainly brighter than pastels. (Technically, white is a aggregate, or combination, of all colors of the visual spectrum, so is not technically a "color" at all, even though it is commonly referred to as such).  The pages of books, and also the forum threads on this site (in fact typically all sites) use white as the background color upon which we type and read/view content, this in order to maximize contrast between the background and the content.  Yet we do not experience "visual fatigue" when reading books or content on this or other websites.  So that would seem to refute any theory that "bright" colors cause "visual fatigue".

Are these used anywhere except in the USA? I've never seen them used. In all the chess tournaments and clubs I've been to, they use either wooden boards or (less frequently) foldable plastic boards with dark brown squares. I didn't know green chess boards were a thing until I found this forum.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of these, while I do enjoy the traditional green/white boards it's always good to have alternatives. I've recently become a fan of the mousepad-style board.

One suggestion I do have, although it may drive up costs, is the possibility to create custom color schemes, perhaps based on a preset amount of color choices. I've seen some nice boards in the past that I thought would look better with a color switch or two.

White is indeed all the colors of the visible spectrum included.  It is also not the most desirable for chess board squares in a tournament setting.  You agreed, above, that an off White is better.  Why is that?  Think of the latest rage of blocking blue light in situations like driving and computer use.  Yes, the blue light is the culprit causing visual fatigue.  

The green squares have been standard in the USA well before my time in chess.  Whenever I would ask someone, like Frank Camaratta, why that was they would always talk about it being easier on the eyes.

Thanks Shelby.

The good thing is that you are willing to solicit the opinion of others as part of your decision process when introducing new products.  And the fact that you are willing to answer questions and even respond to criticism, regardless of whether or not that criticism is warranted.  That's all to your credit, and part of the reason why so many people enjoy doing business with you.  Keep up the good work!

For what it's worth, Shelby, I think the pastels can look nice if you put them on the dark squares with the white squares a buff, off-white colour. The second row of the pastels (counted from the top) seems most promising to me.

If someone makes thin mousepad boards with off white/gray/beige light squares I’ll buy half a dozen. And I think others will want them too, all the current offerings are bright white with the exception of the wood grain mouse pad boards. 

For dark colors darker gray and light brown would make excellent options other than the usual green.

The buff/gray vinyl boards constantly get sold out at chess house in both the 2.25 and the 1.89 inch squares.

But above all darker light squares! Bright white on mousepad boards is terrible.

I’m probably older than most of you but I remember playing with black and buff pieces on black and red folding boards. No complaints about the black on black or the bright red squares. Now my old eyes like the slate gray color on the flex pad boards. Plenty of contrast and very easy on the eyes. 

If someone sells a board with these colors and this texture I will buy it.   This is from solving tactical problems on the website Chesstempo.   I have spent many hours with these colors and I wish I could play OTB with them.

breaking free from the status quo....

Perhaps suitable for gothic chess.  It depresses me...

YES. Great stuff. Light color not blinding white, dark color not too dark so black pieces don’t blend in. And there are no mousepad or vinyl boards like that on the market.

I'd be a buyer for sure from the middle row of choices (light brown) all the way down to mid last row (eminence purple). The top row and the rest of the last row after the last purple color, would not interest me at all. I'd buy 8 of them; Two shades of each of these brown, green, blue and purple hues. In addition, I would have to  conduct a process of elimination of which board color plays best for contrast measures, against which sets I own whether it be plastic or yes even wood for all who are stark traditionalists. I like to utilize ALL my sets. FYI.

BTW in case you noticed my choices, I like variety!

Depending on the quality of these boards, I'd probably "gift" my old vinyl rollup boards to some fellow vets who need such equipment if they don't own such items. 

Just my 2¢. 

Received the BF board this morning nice quality although I'd wish the logo was only located in one corner not two. The logo on h1 is fine but that should've been suffice to keep this board as simplistic as possible, a1 is a bit much. Good feel to this one. Content with my purchase. Thank you Shelby. 

Would not buy this board because of the logo. Without the logo, it looks fine. 

Earlier I mentioned I played at the National Open in Las Vegas. The supplied boards were busy as they had a logo in each corner, included the annotation lines, and had the title of the tournament printed along the side. The boards were wood grain pattern mouse pad material and I thought the y looked great.

So, as someone who is not bothered by the logo(s) on the board, I am curious why some are so vehemently against it. No judgement here, just curiosity. Do you not like the logo due to a sense of traditionalism? Are you really distracted by it? Something else?

For me it's too busy one logo is suffice two is a bit of overkill, just my opinion. Simplicity works best. Just saying...