Square Off - Chess Set

Here is last game. 1 e4 c5 2 d4 cd 3Nc3, simply hanging a piece

Unfortunately, Square Off has virtually no documentation. My Grand Kingdom only had one small card that explained how to unlock the robot arm that kept it from moving during transportation. Everything else I learned from exploring and other users YouTube videos. 

Yes, I believe the auto leveling is supposed to gradually increase its strength till it equals yours. But they claim it does this mid game as well. The problem with this is as you see from my last game it would be too late to adjust its strength as it was a piece down on move 3 (!). I have played dozens of games and it is definitely not playing any better. I had one of the first Chess Computers ever made called Boris. It played sub ELO 1000 level. Yet, it played much better than the Square Off auto adjust level. Boris did not simply leave pieces hanging. The AI is actually in your cell phone, not in the board itself. You can download the Square Off app from Google/Apple store. If you opt in to the beta, you will see just how horrible it is. The manual levels play better (at least at L18 which is close to my strength). If you do not get the beta, you will have what is used with their Grand Kingdom set. 20 levels, each level the machine moves in 1 second, but at L20, there is no random moves thrown in so you are playing Stockfish at full strenght (but 1 second per move). 

I can tell you that the clock is stopped while the board moves its pieces. This was not relevant in the Pre-Beta because their were no time levels. The AI took 1 second on all levels (L1-L20). It would throw in random moves at lower levels to weaken its play. 

There is nothing I have found in the app. Sadly, the play is far worse then even a beginner or any chess program in history. Since I am in the kickstarter, I am most concerned that they no longer reply to customer support questions. The two new computers will be out in June, I hope they can fix the problem before then.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3WWuHgIwQ0&t=117s

Anybody think this Regium e-board is real? It seems too good to be true.

Well considering all the functions it has, it probably will be competing with DGT instead of Square Off. The price gonna be at least a grand if not more

Become a beta app tester and find to learn the timing functions you have to play a chess game which is recorded is there a way of removing games from the history? Also would be nice if when you timed out on a move and you lost that you could carry game on under "I lost but finish game to the end"

Put chess set on charge for 8 hours and battery only up to 52% from 48% according to square off app. Also when plugged in to charger red light above squareoff logo through the chess squares. Must be a Led inside? Can be seen glowing with lights in room dimmed.

I can't see any lights on mine. 

I always found the battery percentage to be a bit weird. It didn't seem particularly responsive. Leave it on charge overnight 

I purchased a GKS on 12/13, charged it overnight upon receipt.  Synced it to my app, but unable to upgrade the firmware, after multiple tries.  Has anyone had luck with customer service or found a user manual online?

Square-off is terrible. Pieces move so slow and don't work half of the time. Can't wait for this one: https://youtu.be/G3WWuHgIwQ0?t=64

Do you own one? They ar enot terrible. A little slow, yes, but in my experience very reliable. No idea what you mean by "don't work half the time" 

There is in app chat for support, they are generally pretty good. 

What's happening when you are asked to update the firmware? 

I've only played one game on it. Someone brought it to the park in the summer where we play chess. Captured pieces don't clear the board most of the time. Pieces aren't centered and move extremely  slow. Great idea but poorly built. Now, if you watch the video I linked above, REGIUM seems promising.

The next generation Squares are faster.  Neo is 1.5x faster than first generation and Swap 3x.  Much improved movement path as well with no bumping into other pieces.  Oh, and cheaper too.  Of course until we have them in our hot little hands we won't really know for sure...

So, you've played one game, yet say it doesn't work half the time?

It sounds like that person had a problem with theirs. My pieces are always centered, always make it to their parking spaces on the side when captures. The only thing that happens sometimes is a piece gets knocked over as they are quite light. 

That video does look good, I bet it will cost a fortune if it ever becomes a reality 

That's true. I have noticed the movement pathing has improved since I've owned the board with firmware and app updates. The pieces now take a shorter route than before 

Yes. I only played one game but I watched people people play on it for hours. It just seemed so cheap to me. A novelty item.