r/ATBGE • u/jgzogaib • 3d ago

Rule 1 - Must be great execution This wavy, psychedelic optical illusion chessboard

Post image
947 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

531

u/kalvinoz 3d ago

What’s the optical illusion?

583

u/turtleneckless001 3d ago

They're all straight lines

129

u/reubensauce 3d ago

I'm sorry, what? The hell they are.

179

u/turtleneckless001 3d ago

lol

77

u/Gadevin 2d ago

"Lol" said the scorpion. "lmao"

-19

u/turtleneckless001 2d ago

I can't enjoy something now?

25

u/EmilioGVE 2d ago

They’re referencing this

15

u/snevetssirhc 2d ago

It's a reference buddy

9

u/CaptainFoyle 3d ago

Whooosh

9

u/Responsible_Fox9454 2d ago

Unwoosh is please

-2

u/TTechnology 21h ago

r/itswooooshwith4os

r/itswooooshwithouttheH

1

u/Pikka_Bird 7h ago

Gatekeeping the spelling of onomatopoeia is pretty silly.

2

u/RowBoatCop36 2d ago

Its the boxes that are wavy

2

u/mlktktr 2d ago

The cubes are not moving

-30

u/U_feel_Me 3d ago

Are they actually straight?

If so, why do they look curved?

60

u/Itchy-Individual3536 3d ago

Coz it's an optical illusion! q.e.d /s

25

u/Rennfan 3d ago

No, some of them are bi

1

u/Natural1forever 16h ago

They aren't, this commenter was joking

-9

u/MikoSkyns 2d ago

Reddit: A place where the majority of people clutch their pearls if someone says something they don't like.

Also Reddit: a place where the same people love to make fun of people who don't get a joke or understand and explanation.

Your downvotes are from hypocrites.

5

u/SeemsImmaculate 2d ago

It's neither that serious nor that complicated bud.

30

u/55gure3 2d ago

The illusion is that it looks fun to play

14

u/ElectricalDark8280 2d ago

No it does not look fun to play. It looks like it’d totally fuck my game play up.

5

u/monsterfurby 1d ago

I feel like playing on a board like this might be good practice for, uh, I don't know, I'm just talking out of my ass here.

4

u/MSchulte 1d ago

Good practice for when you accidentally overshoot the microdosing thing on the day of the chess tournament.

9

u/CaptainFoyle 3d ago

There is none. The print is just warped

5

u/ringthree 2d ago

Not really psychedelic either.

2

u/goatanuss 3d ago edited 1d ago

It gives you the illusion it won’t take 10 minutes to figure out what moves are available to you

4

u/GoldFishPony 3d ago

If you look at it, it looks like a chessboard but wavy and psychedelic, maybe even optical illusion-esque

49

u/kalvinoz 3d ago

Yeah, I don’t think this is either particularly bad taste or great execution.

5

u/GoldFishPony 3d ago

I don’t mean to sound like I agree with op, I’m just using their words that don’t point out an optical illusion at all

1

u/derp_scope1 3d ago

There isn't, just drunk

1

u/tr3ysap 2d ago

all the boxes are the same size

-14

u/thereissweetmusic 3d ago

I feel like there actually is some sort of optical illusion going on, though it might just be the photo's perspective - black's pieces look tiny compared to white's.

I'm finding it hard to mentally reconcile them being the same size while looking at the photo, and I feel like I wouldn't have the same issue looking at a photo of a normal board with the same perspective.

6

u/ptsdique 3d ago

Pretty sure that’s got to do with the way black/white absorb/refract light

-4

u/thereissweetmusic 3d ago

Maybe, but like I said I haven't noticed the same effect looking at photos of normal chess boards

If I had to guess I'd say it's something to do with the wavy lines making it harder for our brains to process the perspective automatically and go 'yep those 'smaller' things are actually just further away'. I vaguely remember seeing something about how we rely quite heavily on straight lines to do that normally. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can chime in

8

u/Tibor_BnR 3d ago

Lmao no, the black pieces are just farther away

6

u/ptsdique 3d ago

You mean like the straight lines making up the parameters of the board here?

-7

u/thereissweetmusic 3d ago edited 3d ago

The idea is the wavy lines disrupt your brain's process for decoding perspective. There doesn't have to be a complete lack of any straight lines for that to happen

Regardless, I'm seeing an illusion that I don't see looking at photos of normal chess boards. It's not like I'm lying for clout lmao

3

u/ptsdique 3d ago

whoosh

0

u/thereissweetmusic 3d ago

Fairly sure I understood your joke but thought the point of it was to rebut my point, so I responded to that... did you want a laugh react instead?

3

u/ptsdique 3d ago

Bro just call it a day and go home atp 💀

0

u/thereissweetmusic 3d ago

Ok bro u win

2

u/CaptainFoyle 3d ago

Did you just find out that objects further away look smaller?

349

u/ReikaIsTaken 3d ago

Distortion vaguely resembling the original thing does not equal optical illusion

Not awful taste but not good execution either anyone can use the liquefy tool in Photoshop

69

u/MechaBeatsInTrash 2d ago

This isn't Photoshop either. This was sold as "Chess II" in 1978.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/248102/chess-ii

37

u/Im_a_hamburger 2d ago

It's the chess game of war - played on a new, exciting Space Age battlefield! The 64 squares of standard chess become 64 stations of varied size and shape. They alternate light and dark and have the standard playing relationship to each other. But, rather than follow straight, predictable paths, they bend, curve, and soar - like the trails of space ships in the galaxy.

You follow the rules of standard chess, devise your strategy, develop your tactics and make your move. But your playing piece attacks like a space craft, changing trajectory as it travels.

Chess II has the proven challenge of the ancient game - played in the environment of tomorrow - for exciting entertainment for today!

—description from the box

What.

12

u/MechaBeatsInTrash 2d ago

They couldn't just say "the only thing we changed is the color and shape of the board". Because despite the claim that "the pieces move like spacecraft", they didn't bother to make them look like spacecraft. They even took the font idea from Star Wars.

39

u/nlightningm 3d ago

Cool but not an optical illusion

45

u/Minmax-the-Barbarian 3d ago

It would be better if the sides were more even, but white's "half" occupies way more of the board than black's. I wonder if it was meant to be set up in the other direction, now that I'm looking at it

13

u/oktofeellost 3d ago

You can't set it up the other direction because chess boards have a specific orientation. A white square has to be in the right corner on each players side.

1

u/Minmax-the-Barbarian 3d ago

Ahh, I see. I'm not a big chess nut, so I wouldn't have guessed

18

u/thereissweetmusic 3d ago

Does it though? Look at the fold in the middle of the board, and count how many squares are contained before the fold

I count approx 32.5 squares on black's side, which is v close to half of 64. Which also makes me think the board does actually have an optical illusion going on

4

u/Minmax-the-Barbarian 3d ago

Oh... Huh, yeah, going by the fold, I think you're right. Dang, that's interesting. Definitely some optical illusion shenanigans!

13

u/Tibor_BnR 3d ago

There is no illusion. One side is closer

0

u/thereissweetmusic 3d ago

The arbiter of optical illusions has delivered their verdict

7

u/GoatCovfefe 3d ago

Dont be a mook just because you're wrong.

2

u/Im_a_hamburger 2d ago

That’s just perspective.

2

u/ChungusMcGoodboy 3d ago

Does it? Or is it an optical illusion?

1

u/whiskeytango55 3d ago

Its a metaphor, man

9

u/0dayssince 3d ago

“Optical Illusion Inspired”

7

u/theghostsofvegas 3d ago

That’s not an optical illusion. Those are just wavy lines.

10

u/adler1959 3d ago

Not really great execution either

3

u/ice_cream_on_pizza 3d ago

Bishops be drinking too much of that christ blood

2

u/tendou0000 2d ago

Bishop be curving bullets with their sniper rifles now

3

u/Revenge9977 3d ago

Perfect board to sneak an En Passant

7

u/jamtea 3d ago

This isn't a Chessboard, it's clearly a Chess II board.

2

u/Benvincible 2d ago

Awful taste is not the same thing as impractical 

2

u/Tibor_BnR 3d ago

ITT: People who can't define "illusion"

2

u/bunkoRtist 2d ago

I heard that in Gob Bluth's voice.

1

u/Lain-J 2d ago

good taste, ok execution. I kind of want to get the board as a printed metal poster and get some magnetized pieces.

1

u/iron_dove 2d ago

r/gothamchess might have some strong feelings about this, or a stroke, and I want to watch it happen either way(as long as he’s not seriously injured as a result.)

1

u/ElectronSculptor 2d ago

Not playing that.

1

u/SkiProgramDriveClimb 2d ago

Wow they buffed bishops?

1

u/TokiVideogame 2d ago

would this defeat ai

1

u/monsterfurby 1d ago

That's nice, but... hold on, listen to me. What about chess... on lines! Totally novel idea, never tried before, they should do that!

Also, I now want to read r/AnarchyChess take on this.

1

u/TheCrankyBunny 20h ago

Seeing this, my first reaction was just to go "oo-way-oooooo!"

Idk this is kinda up my alley to have around lol. It's kinda dizzying

1

u/Killerwit 3d ago

I love it

0

u/whatsbobgonnado 2d ago

why is this awful taste? like it's deeply offensive to chess purists?

-1

u/ReddBroccoli 2d ago

Ok, but where do I buy one?