If the game chess itself was a company how much do you think it would be worth?

Just a question I have been wondering

Definitely more than 10 million dollars, considering the amount of prize money and money bet on games of chess.

Na it is going to be like 10 trillion

I mean also it is kind of like a stock that can't go down

It would be worth whatever you are willing to pay for part of that company. My guess is roughly about zero. The laws that govern intellectual property, corporate ownership, trademarks, etc. I suppose could allow such a company, but nothing would prevent competition.

So you could simply say you own chess. You own 100% of it, and even issue corporate stock to yourself. Your resolution and bylaws could say something to that effect. There is probably going to be a state that would allow that. But it would be like saying you own tic tac toe. Just because you have some paperwork that says you own tic tac toe will in no way prevent anyone else from saying they also own it, and play it, without your consent.

So it would be like those companies that sell stars. You can "own a star" or get one named after you. Not really, but they say you do at least. I think some of those star registry companies will sell you that service for about a hundred dollars.

A game can't be a company. A company can claim to own a game, but that is only valuable if it can claim ownership of the intellectual property, i.e., patents, copyright, etc. Otherwise, it has no means of preventing anyone else to offer the same game.

As chess has been around for centuries, no one can claim patents or copyright for it. Hence, a company claiming to own chess can't support that claim with intellectual property rights, so its value would be rather small.

Exactly. Like the star naming companies there really is no value there, but people will still pay a small amount for novelty purposes. A person could claim their company owns chess, tic tac toe, gin rummy, etc, but the value would be basically zero. I suppose someone might pay a dollar for a share of that company just to say they "own" chess.

$280 million to $580 million

12 million

Probably. But that still makes the "company " of chess worth about zero. Think of it this way, imagine the game of golf as a company. Golf generates billions, but to "own" golf would be worthless. Because nobody can own it. They can say they own it, but that doesn't result in value or capital.

If chess is worth so much, why hasn't anyone incorporated it?

IF chess were a company, it would be worth about zero. Chess is a board game, like checkers, backgammon, etc. Chess, as a company, would be basically worthless because it would have no proprietary value. Anyone can play it. Nobody needs permission or licensing.

The question is not how much the game of chess can generate, because that revenue is generated regardless of chess as a company or not. The company Milton Bradley owns the intellectual property for some games, but the intellectual property for chess cannot be owned. Hasbro for instance owns the game Monopoly. But they don't own the money generated from Monopoly. Monopoly tournaments, private wagers, etc. The money Hasbro makes is from selling the game, NOT the money the game generates.

So to cite how much money chess generates does not translate into capital value. Just like citing how much money golf, checkers, backgammon, etc generate also does not translate into capital value.

If there were value in incorporating the game of chess, there are probably states that would allow that incorporation. Just file with the SOS and put in your resolution and bylaws that you own chess. Then try to sell stock. See what it's worth. My guess is about a dollar, at most.

Please let me rephrase your question to if chess.com could eliminate otb and online cheating, what would chess.com be worth.... definitely billions of dollars.... :)

Oh, probably worth more than Apple and Google combined. After all, nothing screams "modern tech innovation" like a game that hit its peak in the 15th century. Imagine all the IPO hype for pawns and knights!

Billions of dollars, but certainly not more than Apple.

Really simple:

If the creator of chess had it copyrighted before release, then charged us for making chessboards and chess-related products, then they would be swimming in it.

Think about it; 3 Million or more chessboards are sold annually. Assuming the company charges a 10% cut or even a 1% cut of an average 15$ chessboard, they would make a net 4.5 Million to 450,000 thousand off chessboards alone.

Assuming this has peaked about here, and earnings taper off as we go back in time, even at a rate of 5% inflation, Chess the corporation would have made 90 million to 9 million dollars over all time.

This is purely chessboards, not counting tournament funds, entry fees, websites, et cetera.

Thus chess would be worth as much as a small tech company. I rest my case.

I would have my own office in side the janitor closet.

You probably should have considered a few more things before resting your case.

Copyright law does not apply to games. It does not apply to PLAYING a game either. The only way copyright law could apply to a game is if it's online, then maybe. So playing an over the board game of chess falls completely outside the jurisdiction of copyright law.

It also falls outside the jurisdiction of intellectual property law. Chess predates those laws. Many other games, like tic tac toe, checkers, etc also predate these laws. So there is no intrinsic or intellectual property value in these games. The game itself, is worthless.

What has value is a company that might sell the physical things required to PLAY the game. Like the maker of a chess clock, or Milton Bradley which might make the board. Or some company that might make a life size tic tac toe set. Those would have value. The game of chess itself has no value. So the value of the company "chess" would be basically worthless.