Worst chess set design ever?

I hate them, too. But I wouldn't characterize them as "ugly", they're just very, very bland.

Sample: German knight set from Philos, Poland:

The stuffed mice would be okay had the preparator taken care and found many different kinds, to let us see mice through chess. It needed not actually be meant to be played to make sense. It is in so far that the costumes and puppet postures are very bad design.

A box of horrors… it’s almost so bad as to be funny and therefore - in making people smile - it has some purpose and therefore value … until you realise these pieces will be chasing you in your nightmares! It’s the lipstick that I find scariest ….

To each their own - it seems to me that these pieces have always divided opinion.

I flip and flop but in the end, I would like a Weil set (as I call it) - if for no other reason than just to see them in the flesh - but not at the price point. Perhaps the fact that the pieces spawn such passionate reactions (either way) is a sign that at the very least, the design is interesting enough to evoke an emotional response one way or t’other …for those interested, the thinking behind the set is noted in this video.

Nah, powder's set is fine.

I bought this set for $5, it looked so ugly I just had to have it.
Board is 16 inch wide and the king is 5" 3/4 high.

Idk but the queen in the Glass set looks kinda disgusting

the worst chess set would probably be when all the pieces are just generic white or black squares for pieces

There are lots of tacky, cheap looking and downright ugly sets. That´s one thing. Then there are pieces that are, more or less, impossible or at least very annoying to play with. Pieces that fall over all the time, pieces that are so poorly designed that one can mistake a rook for a bishop and a bishop for a pawn or even have a hard time distinguishing the black pieces from the white ones. To claim the title WORST-CHESS-DESIGN-EVER a set, in my opinion, has to belong to both these categories. Ugly AND useless.

Great point! One could imagine designers "couldn't we make it even worse?" and then follow your instructuons. I am just thinking of a great set spoilt by the design of one piece. That would be the worst piece ever.

Just need to say, the set looks like it’s made from those old Tinker Toy sets we had years ago. 😉

Worst chess knight has to be the World Chess Knight. For 500 dollars, it is plain ugly and the price being sought after is outrageous.

About 15 years ago I was coaching a group of young children. One mom wanted to help me and her son brought Chupa Chups chess. They were absolutely useless. The mom was undeterred and gradually gifted these chess sets to every child in the group.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224735521352

This article is amusing and probably fits this thread well!

The 9 Most Awful Chess Sets You Could Buy - https://www.chess.com/article/view/awful-chess-sets #chess

Novelty with games that never end well. 

I would say the worst chess set design is one that isn’t legible nor practical—rather than being ugly per se. An ugly chess set can still be functional, and thus couldn’t justifiably be called the worst chess set.

Based on that reasoning, the Napoleon chess set below isn’t the worst. But I wanted to share it simply because that rabbit-like knight is so incredibly hideous. Plus, the king finial and sharp points on the queen’s crown don’t look very comfortable to handle. All the pieces are so slender and sharp, except for that abomination of a knight.

"....royal knight, complete with front legs and long flowing mane."

The grazing knight chess set.

oh, these are front legs? Honestly, I wondered why did the carver add small bat wings to his Knight... This is the "I believe I can fly Knight". Nice rocker's quiff, by the way.