John N. Hansen Co. Strato Chess

I bought this chess set for my dad who loves chess and loves a challenge. He said it's a bit difficult to learn, but that's the whole point, fun and challenging. I did read some reviews saying the stand was slanted or didn't sit leveled, but my dad was able to "unbend" or straighten out the metal stands easily. I think this is such a fun gift for anyone who enjoys to play chess and wants a little bit more of a challenge. Also makes great for a centerpiece!

The focal pieces are a tad too big for the board, but Strato Chess is easy to learn for anyone who already knows how to play regular chess (One tier). Assembly was fast and EZ. Only three Philips screws (included) & assembly is 100 percent done. If your new to to rules of chess, I recommend someone who knows the game teach you, or you can easily find a book on chess, personally I like the book, "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess." Knowing how to play Strato Chess was surprisingly easy, the challenge is being good or great at it! The pieces are high quilty plastic as is the sleek looking board, which makes Strato Chess affordable, yet cool looking.

I bought this set for myself to play with some friends. Since the rules of chess still apply to this game it is really easy to learn. The difficulty is in remembering you're playing 3 Dimensionally. I recommend this to anyone that likes chess..Pros: Easy setup, looks good on my coffee table, great conversation piece, and fun to play..Cons: It's shaky while playing.. You have to be somewhat careful and precise when moving the pieces around.Recommendations: I recommend playing on a solid/sturdy surface, when I first got the game delivered we played at the dinner table and every time someone stood up the pieces would all fall down. Now it is on my coffee table which is a much more sturdy surface and it is not a problem anymore. Still shaky while playing though.

Straight out of the box: -- Had minor scratches on board and metal holder. Wasn't a big deal, but it did make me question whether my product was new or used, even though I had bought a new one. -- Not the best plastic board and not the best quality of a "metal" stand, but it does its job. Both are easily scratchable. -- instructions on how to play 3d chess were not clear. -- there were no assembly instructions, but assembly was very easy and I had all the parts.What I had to do: -- Look up and learn Millenium's 3d chess rules. -- Since the spacing between each board was small, players often hit the set knocking the pieces everywhere, so I attached magnets under each board and each piece making it a magnetic set. -- The boards are clear so I left the protective paper that came with the set (the brown paper you have to peel off) and added thin colored foam under that to help with visibility of the sqares. -- The base was not sturdy at all. I laughed at some of the reviews people left about it being a "sturdy" structure. I had to add foam to the bottom to make it a better base and sturdy it on a flat surface, especially since if the table it was on was even slightly knocked the whole thing shook. The foam really helped with shock absorbance, I guess you can say. -- Added a protective clear covering to the top of the boards, kind of like a cell phone screen protector, to help prevent the paint from scratching/flaking off. (There were about 2 scratches on the black paint already when I first received it, so I had to color these in first). -- Spray painted the screws to match the 4 corners of the squares. The picture that Strato showed conveniently covered the screws in the middle of the board. They are huge and distracting so I had to spend a couple extra hours painting them perfectly to blend in with the board.My suggestions: -- Definitely a fun game and I would high suggest investing in it. However, I would only suggest it to people who already know how to play chess and are very familiar with the game. Chess is a difficult game, adding dimensions is even more complex and therefore may be discouraging to individuals who do not know how to play the original game. I would also suggest running through some of the 3d chess games that Millenium posts and analyze those in order to get the hang of the game, how pieces move and strategy. It is really fun and easy once you know what you are doing! It may be intimidating at first, but super exciting in the end. -- For 30+ bucks, I would not advise this set. I normally would have returned it because of its poor quality (which many of my friends have mentioned and have constantly reminded me of before I made amendments), but I could not find another 8x8x3 (8 by 8 boards of a set of 3) chess set, so I kept it and ended up spending another 40 bucks to make it better. I would at the very most pay 20 bucks for it. I would feel like I got my money's worth at 10 bucks and I would be okay with spending 15 bucks for this quality and set. -- The pieces are pretty big for the squares, but I never have found that to be a problem. You could do what others have mentioned and buy smaller pieces if it bugs you, or like some, must have the base of each piece perfectly centered then you would definitely want smaller pieces. -- Also the way it is designed, the stand's bars are in the way and creates blind spots when sitting/looking at the boards at a certain angle. The only thing I could think of to do was to set up the boards so that these bars are at the side when playing (unlike in the pictures Strato posted), but it still doesn't help when looking at other angles. I was considering using my Chem lab to heat up the bars enough to move them upwards and straight up, but since its cheap metal, i dont know how well that will work.I will post updates if anything comes up, such as new ideas on how to improve or other problems arise

This game is awesome. Read the rules carefully, it takes a little getting use to but it is a lot of fun. Pieces are small and not a lot of weight to them, kinda wish there was a wee bit more space betwixt the planes. I had to use a couple pieces of hardware of my own fore a couple screws were no tapped properly. Once assembled though it is quite sturdy. I got one for my brother as well and we e-mail moves to each other, we constantly have a time going and can stay at our own homes.All in all I am happy with this purchase and product. Amazons service was great too. Product showed up on time and undamaged.

If you are bored with the usual chess, this is the one for you. It is just damn hard. We played it a couple of times in the family . It is a much harder chess game than the classical one. sometimes, it is even difficult to recognize that some figure is under attack, especially if it comes from an other dimension. I think it is nicer than the 3D chess one has seen in Star treck (that one had impressed me a lot as a kid). It is closer to the actual chess and has 3 levels each of which is a 8x8 board. The two plays start on the first rsp. 3rd layer and the first move has to go to an other level. It would be nice to make a computer analysis. I is not impossible (maybe unlikelly) with an extensive analysis to establish that white starting has a winning strategy.

OKs.

Amazing go to together perfectly

Item arrived missing a screw. As a result we are unable to fasten the top board and unable to play the game. Contacted help desk and was offered $5 for a $65 item that we can’t use.

La estructura de metal esta ligeramente chueca

Flimsy and small