Phantom Force Chess

by Excalibur

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.8 x 14.3 x 19 inches ; 6.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 pounds
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0018PWUJA
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,859 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Want to play chess, but have no one to play with? Phantom Force is at the ready as your competitor. Play against this "smart" computer and watch in disbelief as the chess pieces actually move on their own! Or you can observe a fierce chess match as you watch the computer play against itself.

Game has incredible voice vocabulary that makes it easy and fun to play, game-saving memory, magnetic chess pieces that fit inside the built-in storage compartment; plus 136 levels (120 for play and 16 for analysis). Requires 6 "C" batteries, not included.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Product, January 4, 2008

By 

sjulaw (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

I received this chess game as a gift and have played about 15 games on it to date. It is enjoyable to watch the pieces move by themselves.

For playing a casual game, it is very challenging. There are many different levels to choose from (about 100 in total). I am by no means an advanced player (I can't think 7 moves ahead) but I am more advanced than the average beginner (my rating average on various websites is roughly 1800). That being said, I find the lower levels to be rather easy, but on the harder levels I get beaten soundly. Therefore, I would say the game overall is quite challenging. The computer also appears to strategically place its pieces on open ranks and files, rather than just attacking material (which many chess computers often do). For example, I recently offered a rook to the computer because I was about to put the computer into mate in 3 moves and the computer passed on the rook and instead defended against the threat.

The only downside is the game is loud and pieces take a few seconds to move. If you're a "good" player, it's defintely very challenging. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the higher levels beat "advanced" players with ease.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Da bomb! Totally!, May 14, 2008

By 

Lawrence Brown "Larry Brown" (HOUSTON, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a fantastic chess set. It's the closest computer based system you can get to playing chess naturally. Because you simply move your pieces, and the computer moves its own, it's really just like playing a game of chess with another person. Compared to the usual cumbersome system of punching your moves in with a keypad, and then reading a screen and moving the piece for the computer, this allows you to concentrate on the game with your usual focus.

Some reviewers may make an issue of the speed of the transport. In normal game play I don't find the speed annoying at all. There is a slight delay while the transport moves to the desired piece and then moves it. The speed is a major problem, however, when the game has to do a reset of any sort, like put all the pieces in place for a new game or clear the board for piece practice. Wherever the Phantom Force does not allow you to bypass these automatic resets and just do it manually instead the slowness will be a problem. I'm not sure how good it is at allowing you to manually reset. Having the Phantom Force reset the board is fun for showing people how cool it is. Other than that it's too slow and manually resetting the board is needed.

Some reviewers also make an issue of the noise. Yes, it's slightly noisy, but I've not had any family members complain. It sounds like a Dremel grinding tool on low speed. I don't find it annoying.

On the good side....this game is simply waaaaaay cool. There's no other way to get an authentic playing experience. To move, you simply press down the piece you want to move, move the piece to the desired position, and then press down there. The touch sensitive playing surface registers the move with the computer and then "Chessica" (love that) makes her move. You can't get any easier than that. Various games have been made in the past that move the pieces. Some of these have featured an above board robotic arm. They've always been expensive and delicate/trouble prone, so they go out of production and the companies go bankrupt. This game is a recent entry into the market and until now an automatic chess game of this type has been unavailable for many years. Go for it!

The game has many features, including adjustable skill level, practice mode (love it), hints, allow the computer to move for you, force the computer to move before it's finished thinking, talking, battle sound effects, and allow the computer to play both sides. I like the talking and battle sound effects, but they can be muted. The talking uses the same phonetic program used by computers since the IMSAI 8080 days (this talking was featured in the 1983 movie "Wargames"). The program existed in the Commodore 64 and was further made famous in the Commodore Amiga. It's incredible that a piece of software would exist that long. The battle sounds are fun. You get sword clashing, grunting when stabbed, thud when hitting the ground dead, drum cadence when royalty is marching, horse hooves galloping, and more.

If you're worried about reliability...get real. This is a delicate machine. It won't work forever and it won't tolerate any abuse. It's a miracle that they are able to produce a robot at this price point, so don't expect Rolls Royce style robustness. If it works for several years you got your money's worth.

In short, this is a fantastic piece of whiz-bang technology that really allows you practice your chess game and play naturally. It's a good price, so if it appeals to you just buy it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good considering..., November 27, 2008

By 

James F. Rendek - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Phantom Force Chess (Electronics)

I never write reviews but this product compels me. First let me say compared to what is on the market it is a wonderful product and it had to be produced. The only problem is they stopped short of the end goal of relative perfection. Mine works great on AC power but does not always move the pieces correctly when using even fresh Duracell batteries. Perhaps this is why the AC adapter is included. It appears to have the same decent chess programming and semi-intuitive interface of many Excalibur chess computers and will meet the needs of almost everyone. Here is a list of things that they need to impart on it's successor...

- Reliable battery operation
- A little more durability
- 2 Extra Queens
- Quieter, faster, smoother piece movement
- A real LCD for easy piece verification (like King Arthur)
- A slightly larger chess set
- It is a complete waste to not have a Fritz/Chessmaster or Arena PC interface at this point
- A lower list price unless most of these features are implemented

For a true chess lover this is still one of the best products to buy him/her while we continue to wait for true robot/PC integration.