I'd love to see you cover Crowdfunding's Worst TTRPG Scams, and TTRPG Accessories(which includes apps) as a follow-up. There are SO MANY EFFING examples of both.
Hey slopes. I doubt you will notice this comment and I apologize to reply directly to your ads but your instrumental tracks that were played here tickle an itch in my brain. If I could have lengths to them I would appreciate it. If you made them a link to a band camp to buy them would be nice. Or a link to the producers
@@voltakid4859 Appreciate that mate, I spend a lot of time getting the music together for these. The vast majority of tracks come froma royalty free site i use called Epidemic.
I had to look at the footage several times before giving up and seeing the solution. Cheers to those who can see a thin couple pixel wide flaw, when I was looking for bigger picture stuff like a slightly changed angle.
@@Patralganit’s not that huge it’s usually 21 inches by 21 inches , that’s not really that big unless you are an insect then it probably would be huge but from a human perspective it’s not that big 😂😂😂😂😂😂
I knew this kickstarter was a scam simply because of the board, and how they claimed it worked. The board was WAY TOO THIN to contain anything that would make the pieces move like that. I have quite a bit of experience with electronics and you simply couldn't fit anything that you would need to get the board to do that in that skinny board.
I dunno, if it worked the way it said it did you would just need a flat panel of loads of magnets which are activated in sequence to pass the piece between them moving across the board. But if they were serious about it they really needed a prototype proof of concept rather than a fake video.
@@trailersicI don’t think it would be so simple: Rows of magnets would probably need complicated moving parts, or maybe… really advanced magnetic pulses, or something? I can’t really imagine it coming together, but: chess software is certainly advanced… so it’s possible that someone can use that, in a nice moving set someday, maybe. Though it’s mostly just difficult to imagine lol
My grandfather was the inventor of four-way chess and also invented four-way checkers, They were fun and his rules are far better than the new wave of the same idea. He had thousands of boxes of unsold examples and after many years of sitting in a warehouse, I made a tidy sum as a kid selling them door to door.
The fact they gave themselves away with the animation is a bit baffling to me. They could easily have done that stop-motion without needing to use any kind of superimposing or masking vfx. By doing that, they're adding extra steps to the process just to give themselves less margin for error. I used to do stop-motion animations in my teenage years, they weren't anything special, but I have experience in the process and I cannot fathom any reason they'd need to mask in that Knight unless there was something behind it that gave them away even worse.
THIS. When Slope mentioned it was stop-motion I thought "oh they probably moved the piece a little on accident at some point and it jittered". I facepalmed HARD when it was revealed to be bad masking instead. Like bro this specific setup is easy and fast as HELL to animate why'd you overcomplicate it like that 💀
@@oz_jones 1) Angel might not have done it himself and got someone else to animate that for him. We don't know who that person is, or their gender, or if they even are a single person, hence the use of "they". 2) Singular "they" has been a thing since the 14th century and was made official by Oxford last century.
Even aside from the knight, you can see his hand's shadow just snap out of existence every time he pulls it away, since the editor made every cut too early.
Stay tuned for my automatic Risk table. The pieces don't move or anything. It's just that the table flips itself over so the losing player doesn't have to.
I can tell just by looking at the way the pieces move, they move exactly like the way a Claymation chess peace would move in like a Gumby episode of even one of the British Claymation shows. It's way too fast and "animated" for that to be the way the pieces actually move in real life.
Stop motion animation would mean a series of photographs where the pieces were physically moved between each frame. This is something more like digital animation.
Yup, Slope isn't the brightest bulb. Would also be nice if when he used Techmoan's content (the bit showing a working electric chess board) he'd give him credit
for some reason this made me remember a thing my 3DS had with a pokedex for the gen 5 games that could read QR codes to display 3D models of pokemon in the real world. so make a combo of that and a chess board. have a screen displaying the pieces as symbols for those who dont have the device, and glasses that pair with it reading the QR codes in the symbols turning them into the pieces for their vision.
My little brother donated to a similar project for a automatic playing chessboard. Years later, he finally got his board, and it broke within the first 30 seconds of playing.
From *all* of the gullible groups of people out there you could steal from... Taking that one where people have way too much free time, are usually incredibly smart *and* love to look at every even so small detail, was probably the worst pick.
I remember seeing Techmoan’s review for the SquareOff a few years ago and thought this was the same thing when I first began watching. But seeing the review in your footage I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is a different one. I appreciate the work you do, I always learn stuff from your videos!
Honestly self advertising as "Mensa member" is a huge red flag. It only means two things. That you were able to score high on an IQ test (you can actually "study" for those and score significantly better, also retry infinite times if you have the time and money to flush down the toilet). But worse than that, it means you think IQ tests are important in real life.
Maybe I'm making a false correlation, but I have been noticing a connection between Mensa members (who I have to imagine are pretty high on their own intelligence most of the time) and scammers / con artists. I mean, if you are convinced that you are smarter, and therefore better than, the vast majority of the population, I imagine you must also be convinced that you deserve to have their money and they do not deserve to have it. You can do so much better, smarter things with it than they would, can't you? Even if you just spend it all on luxury for yourself, you deserve that luxury, and they surely do not, because they are just mediocre peasants. You are a Special! It's only right. Right?
It makes no sense to me that this channel doesn't have 1 million subscribers. All Slopes videos are so good, I have been watching for years. Come on algorithm, get your sheet together.
as a owner of a square off neo (Basicly same idea as this) It works fairly well, but is /much/ thicker, and much slower, The concept can be done but it ovbiously requires care (Also for what it's worth mine is much more quiet than the techmoan example)
Yeah it's a bit newer of a version, To be honest the main issue is the speed, 2 seconds ish per move doesn't seem bad, but it adds up over a 90 move game@@slopesgameroom
As an engineer the idea is do able execpt the hurdles of moving pieces over each other. I guess if you use really small pieces or really large boards, you could path find. It could almost be silent if you make the movements slow, and you could save hardware by tieing a phone app to be mother braod
Slope's! 0:01 I am so excited for another video! I'm only disappointed it isn't a longer one, but that is 100% your fault, sir. I can't get enough of you... (sorry I started singing, "I can't get enough of you baby") You are such a great channel to watch and fun! I don't know what else to tell ya, but I am hooked. Thank you for being you and your time! Have a wonderful day! 🍻🌎♥️🎶🕺
You can see the first person who "reviewed" the product (cause we all know every 20 something hot girl is really into chess lol) is constantly looking off to the side...I assume to read cue cards lol
She was very vague with her words, which is what made it obvious to me it was a scam. It was a generic "endorsement" that she can use to appeal to a variety of companies that want to use it. I don't fault her, she's just getting her money as a paid actor, but it's just something to notice when looking for any genuine reviews.
@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley The other big red flag is that if the chessboard actually worked, "Angel" could have found some chess grandmasters to demo it to and then get one of them to do the endorsement. That would have legitimized the project and given it serious cachet.
I was *literally* in the process of typing a comment saying how a bunch of the people shown at 7:38 looked to be straight off of ThisPersonDoesNotExist when that bombshell got dropped 😂
"If you are watching this, I hope this little recap stings hard." Or, he could take heart from the fact that you've given him exactly the tips he needs to avoid his mistakes and succeed with the scam next time.
Barely started the video and I'm like "Eh! Eh! Eh! I've seen the Techmoan videos, so while my chess knowledge is rudimentary at best, this shit is scam-a-rific popcorn worthy."
It could be done in such a way that the shadow of the hand can stay on the board. just use layers... Also there are linear electric motors, so in theory it should be possible to make such automated chess board, but it would require control over at least ~320 individual electromagnets. Not a cheap thing to build...
What I don't understand is the endgame here - if the kickstarter had been funded, what next? Kickstarter isn't completely without protections, and they would have been forced to refund without a viable product.
This kind of idea is simply impossible, not without very small pieces relative to the board or a mechanical arm. This is because the knight jumps over other pieces. Just imagine if the board’s first move was to move the knight. How is this feasible? It’s completely walled off.
There are such mechanical boards where the pieces move automatically and the knights simply slide in between the other pieces. There's just enough room to do so.
4:38 Sorry, are you sure lichess was involved in the sponsoring? I'm not aware of lichess having had any sponsor. Or did I missunderstand what you were saying?
Is the selling point here the chess pieces moving or just the AI..? In the 90s we had a travel game board that contained 6(?) different games like chess and checkers, had inbuilt storage for all the pieces and could play against you. All the pieces had pegs at the bottom, the board had holes for them and a sensor underneath the board and would know what piece you picked up and where it was placed, then it would tell what it wanted to do. You had to move the opponent's piece to where it indicated, then play your own turn, rinse and repeat. Are there really no automatically moving chess boards available?
Didn't se any issue with the four player chess thing, I'm sure it's probably complete mega-chaos while than in-depth strategy, but I think chaotic games that exist for fun have their place. Would play it myself if I had the time or friends that gave a shit about chess.
Right, it's definitely something that people could make it work, if they really wanted to. 3 or 4 player chess. People could at least have fun forcing such a game lol. (It's a separate issue, whether or not they could make money with it... but it's probably a better idea, than a lot of trash ideas, that actually have made money. Like how the Amico, is a nonexistent idea that scammed millions apparently.)
Being in MENSA doesn't mean you're super smart - it just means you like being in some weird fratty boys club where they share Rick & Morty memes and bully women who try and join
Funnily enough the word "mensa" in my country is actually a spanish slang which means: "Dumb" in female, in an example: "Mira a esa mujer mensa". Which means: "Look at that dumb woman".
@@petoperceptumI qualified while working midnights at a gas station. I definitely got that impression from the woman giving the test. I also qualified for the ISPE, which is advertised as Mensa's Mensa, so I'm 99% sure both organizations are scams. I've never met anyone who's failed their entrance tests.
I played 4 player chess 1 time. With 2 other people. I won, it was over 15 years ago and until I watched this video that was the only time I had ever seen a 4 player chess board.
@@nobodyimportant8859 Cool, I'm glad I saw your comment, to learn that people have made it happen: chess with 3 or 4 people, on one board. Was it a huge board? (Bigger than a standard board, I expect, right?) I actually had imagined it, but I figured that it would never really happen. Like how 3D chess is a great concept that basically has never really happened lol.
i had an idea for chess once, combine it with "magic the gathering" with each piece, representing a creature in your deck, the board starts off with nothing but your "commander" on it, and over the course of the game you "summon" minions from your deck, their strenths/"class" determines what piece they are, and how they move on the board, but the card controls their attack/health/and abilities, to the board, kind of liek you do in strategy computer games, with the added effect of spell cards, that can be drawn instead of minions, and cause various effects, based on what the card itself says. end goal would be to deal damage to opponents commander in order to reduce their health to 0
@@gariko after playing around with the tutorial.....yeah thats almost EXACTLY what i was doing, just with magic cards, and without "gates" though i like the added strategy they give to the game. i need to play with this more, is it digital only, or is there a board game version?
Interesting video. Hadn't heard of this before and went down my own rabbit hole looking at some of the forums. Just a note though: I think the backdrop image for 11:22 is kind of in bad taste haha. Homeless people asking for money and scammers asking for money are very different
9:35 I think if i was the website responding to the allegations. I would take down the true statements. and start a kickstarter to pay the lawyer fees for defamation. If i reach my goal, i would put up the true statements, else don't put up the true statements.
Quality video mate, is it a teddy bear a doll a Cuddly Toy a potential mascot for Blockbusters 😂😂 nevertheless he looks pretty cool, has he got a spring in his head and will it nod when I'm driving 😂, checkmate
Stopped at 1.36 to mention that a magnetic "e-moving" Knight is pointless as the Knight sometimes "jumps" other pieces so via magnet some of its movement will not be possible right? ...sorry, I just love chess. I even slowed the video to make sure the board was set correctly at the start 😅😅 Edit: the board being used by Slopes at 2:10 actually is set up incorrectly 😊 I told you I was bad 😅
There are other self-moving boards and they manage it okay by having the knight moving along the boundaries of each square, I think? Or maybe detecting where all the other pieces are and pathfinding around them.
A friendly reminder that being in MENSA just means you're rich. Personally I think being in mensa means you're STUPID. Most people can just be smart on their own without paying to let everyone know how smart they are. Apparently it's actually not that hard to pass the mensa qualification test. But you have to pay to be a member.
couldn't he have just said 'oh it's probably a bit of motion blur with the chess piece? or just something to do with the uploading of the video? Wouldn't that have been simpler? :)
3:30 Mensa doesn't mean your super smart, just good at taking tests I got family that are Members that are in Mensa, and believe the world's flat and Trump is somehow president of the US still as he never transferred power
its not hard to join MENSA AT ALL, you just need to pay your membership dues and you're in. i qualified for it before i was 12, and im a fucking idiot. (various phyological and social issues made my schools counceler think i was "acting out" and that i was "too smart for my own good" so i was forced to take a series of IQ tests, and standardized tests from all over the world, including the duke TIP program, and MENSA)
@@Redhotsmasher but as MANY people have pointed out, IQ tests, are just tests, and like ANY other test, they CAN be studied for, and they have intrinsic biases that can further aid you, without your knowledge. AKA they are just as easy to game as any other type of test is. in MY case i had SO DAMN MANY of the SAME TYPE of tests thrown at me, in such rapid succession, BASICALLY they did everything they could do to bias my score to being higher than it actually is. the only good that came out of it, was making it easier for me to take and pass tests, without any of skills or knowledge actually needed to be good in the field that the test is supposed to study for. which i mean, that is a kind of "knowledge" of its own, and does insinuate SOME level of higher cognitive functions, but it doesnt change the fact that i CONSTANTLY do stupid stuff, and am generally not too bright of a person.
My wife and I just participated in our very first Kickstarter for a 3D printer that's promising a lot. I really hope we don't end up seeing the campaign featured on a future edition of Kickscammers, lol.
