Check out this awesome chess set, which was designed by Dave Pickett, the Skeleton Key Chess Board. “A chess set I designed around the function of skeleton keys. The skeleton keys are made of brass.

Chess is timeless, but automating it? That’s where the real magic begins. Enter [Tamerlan Goglichidze]’s Pi Board, an automated chess system that blends modern tech with age-old strategy.

The chess pieces are flimsy and hard to move around the (woefully small) chess board. A stiff wind, rowdy pet or grumpy child could make a mess of things in short order.

But [Oriol’s] build is the largest of them all. He says there’s a network of REED switches under the chess board to detect when a piece is present or not.