Square Off

I would love to order but Im afraid if people didn't receive it after 3 years my money may not come back if I pre order

IMHO, you should wait until it appears on Amazon or HoS, because if something goes wrong, it becomes Amazon or HoS's problem and not yours.  If you pre-order, you are at the mercy of SquareOff themselves.

Personally, I would probably go for other options if you want something now.  The novelty of a self-moving chess board wears off pretty quickly.  

Well, I would like to buy a self moving board before the World Chess Championship so my family can enjoy the board showing the moves, I know about "PHANTOM" but I don't think they would be out of pre-order before SquareOff

Phantom probably won't make it to WCC 2023, but so far SquareOff hasn't shipped more than 100 Swaps, and they have to fulfill all kickstarters and Indiegogo before they make it to pre-orders, so I personally don't think pre-order will make it to WCC 2023 either.   Definitely not a guarantee. 

If all you want is moving pieces that broadcast your games, their grand kingdom set does that, and it is available now. I am not aware of any other self-moving pieces with livestream capability. 

I just received the Neo and was excited as I set it up.  Then I was very disappointed when the pieces didn't move.  Also when I moved pieces, it would not register.  Very frustrating.  I feel jipped.  I wrote them an e-mail and hope they can tell me how to fix it.

They just released an update for the app.  Maybe that will help? 

Yeah, the app is often unstable, always suspect the fault there before the board itself, i had a whole month where i could not use it because it was incompatible with my phone and could not detect what board im using while other devices had no issue.

@toppsmark the obvious would be the shipping lock, but I think it doesn't even sit flush on a table until you take that out.

@Kherthy I assume you got the Neo. Are you still enjoying it? Do you use it with Chess.com?

Yes, of course I removed the shipping lock.

Yes, it is the Neo, but I haven't enjoyed it because it is not working.

I doubt it's the app, but I'll double check.

Thanks for your responses.  Any other ideas would be welcome.

Recently there were app update on android. Maybe those issue have been fixed.

I use an iPhone and the app is up to date.  I doubt it is the app.  I think the problem is that the pieces are not registering with the board because I make a move and it says it is still my turn.  Square Off has responded to my e-mail and asked I send them a video of the board in action (or in this case inaction) which I did yesterday.  Hopefully they can come up with a fix, or replacement.

Yeah it was fixed, but app problems are recurring, they mess up something with a good chance with every update.

It still can be the app, I had my PRO not long after release and there were soo many problems with it, there was a whole month where I could not use it, because the app kept recognizing it as a Grand Kingdom Set. Just give them some time to take a look at the app, if that's the problem its faster than waiting for a replacement board.

hello, are there updates regarding when SWAP would be out of pre-order?

They've blown past 5 dates so far, but right now it is March 2023.  

Personally, I would recommend waiting even longer until they show up on a 3rd party's website, like Amazon or HoS, and purchase from there, so if anything goes wrong, you can make it Amazon's problem and not yours. 

That part was addressed to @Kherthy, but I'm really sorry (and worried) to hear about your troubles!

Oh sorry, didn't see your post. No I got the Pro, received it about half a year after its release and even then the app was unstable. I use that mostly with chess.com, apart from a small issue where it sometimes does not show opponents move on the table its great, but the square app ai is pretty weak.

Square off is running Christmas sales with good discounts on Pro and grand kingdom set. Roughly 100 USD off.  https://squareoffnow.com/product/gks

I received a Neo as one of the early Kickstarter backers.  I was so excited to set it up and try it, but was very disappointed and frustrated when it didn't work properly.  After a few moves the board didn't recognize my moves so the game could not continue.  Also, I had instances where the board tried to move a piece, but couldn't for some reason.  I complained to Square Off and after some back and forth, each taking days, they finally said they would replace my board.  So now I'm waiting for the replacement, which they said would take some weeks.

At least it will come faster than the first one.