Tangible Optical Chess

Andy Wu, David Joyner, Dr. Ellen Yi-Luen Do & Dr. Ali Mazalek



Optical Chess is a strategic board game created using the theoretical idea of lasers and mirrors, as well as many of the concepts and terminology from the more standard game of Chess. The game's initial objectives were to be easy to learn, to be difficult to master, to be strictly strategic with no element of randomness, and to lend itself to emergent strategies that appear after the application of a few very simple rules, rather than have rules that are intended to create certain strategies. In the future, users could perform optical experiments on this interactive tabletop display without setting complicated environments and with minimal risk of eye damage from laser beams.

project website

journal articles

  • Move, Beam, and Check! Imagineering Tangible Optical Chess on An Interactive Tabletop Display
    CiE

conference papers

  • Move, Beam, and Check! Imagineering Tangible Optical Chess on An Interactive Tabletop Display
    ACE'10

short papers, workshop papers, & posters

  • Tangible optical chess: a laser strategy game on an interactive tabletop
    IDC'09