Bad Chess: A quasi-futuristic chess set based on the expectations of 1980s culture, portrayed by both physical illusions and Augmented Reality.
Humans have contemplated and ruminated over what their future might look like since the beginning of time, often indulging themselves by fantasizing possibilities more akin and catered to the desires and aesthetic of the era they presently live in than what could be realistic in the time frame they set for themselves. This gluttonous go-getter exuberance is charming in an entertainment setting, and found its way to the forefront of media, eventually creating its own genre, SciFi (Science Fiction). The decade of the 1980s is a prime example of such exuberance, known for loud music, louder colors, and even louder hairstyles. The 80s had a garish flamboyance that was unmatched by any other decade in the 20th century, and it showed especially in its visions (and obsessions) of the future. In "Back to the Future II" (1989), lead character Marty McFly time travels to 2015, where he discovers flying vehicles, lasers, and lots of metallics, a far cry from how 2015 really looked when the time came. Arguably trends recycle every 30 years, so maybe it is realistic to think the future will look like an extension of the present, but not to the extent dreamt of. Bad Chess attempts to emulate this unrealism with the visual nature of the 80s.
Bad Chess is a contemporary representation of the ideals of the 1980s, taking advantage of the long history of chess, to show a cyclical preserved image of people's expectations for a shiny future. The chess set is composed of a dashingly clashing geometric board, an intensely epic graphic design on the box (inspired by 80s video game covers), and metallic cubic pieces with lasers. When the tips of these cubes are scanned by a phone, a 3-D model of the chess piece pops up, only to dissolve when the piece is killed in the game from a laser.