An arcade machine replays tactical chess games
Physical arcade cabinet displaying tactical chess puzzles with animated graphics.
Gallery
The project
A custom chess arcade cabinet now equips the Blitz Society bar. Adapting the slow pace of chess to a lively venue required fast-paced tactical games playable via physical controls. The studio delivered a vertical cabinet featuring a screen, an analog joystick, and push buttons. A dedicated program converts chess databases into timed puzzles managing three lives per player. The display applies progressive visual cracks as soon as fifteen seconds remain, setting the tempo for high-stakes decision-making.
- Kiosk
- Interactive installation
- Gamification
- Sound design
- Game / real-time dev
- Software / web dev
- Unity
- Game design
The challenge
The game had to remain smooth for beginners and competitors alike. Transforming tactical problems into fast-paced matches required immediate rules. In a public venue, every player must understand their mistake in a split second, without instructions and without blocking the machine for the next players.
The approach
The player slips a coin into the coin acceptor, grabs the joystick, and selects their level. We developed the software in Unity, featuring an internal PGN file parser to instantly load tactical puzzles. Gamification dictates the pace: three lives per session, real-time pawn promotion, and stress gauges that visually crack the screen under the pressure of the timer. Our sound design amplifies the tension with every validated move on the physical arcade controls. At the end of the game, the player enters their nickname on the leaderboard.
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