This Smart Board Teaches How to Play Checkers (and Prevents Cheaters, Too!)

Inspired by a conversation with a friend about a board to help kids play chess, Bogdan Berg decided to actually make such a device. The resulting system uses an Arduino Mega to control an 8x8 grid of LEDs that lets the user know where pieces can be moved.

Each piece has a magnet attached to it, which allows the board’s hall effect sensors to tell where pieces are located, and which piece a user picks up in order to point out possible moves. What’s more, it even prevents players from cheating by enforcing the rules and highlighting incorrect attempts.

Though now programmed to assist users in playing checkers, the board could in theory be used to play chess, tick-tack-toe, or pretty much any game that uses an 8x8 grid of squares as a playing surface.

You can see more of this project in Berg’s blog post here, and check out a demo of it below.