Eco-Chess

Eco-Chess explores the ways chess can relate to concepts of mutualism, phototropism, and growth layers in forest ecosystems. By incorporating these sometimes-difficult to understand concepts into a widely understood board game, players will be able to learn about forests in a fun and interactive way. This is how these concepts are represented; There are four values of chess pieces, and four layers in a forest: floor, understory, canopy, and emergent. The chess pieces are laser-cut from wood board to look like the plants that reside in their respective layers. White pieces are modeled after plants in coniferous forests, and black pieces after plants in deciduous forests. Chess is a tactical game based on medieval society–with every piece working together to get the king. Eco-Chess is a tactical game based on plant society, with every piece working together (mutualism) to get the sun (phototropism)! I designed the chess pieces for this game, contributed to research, and helped set up the files for the laser cutter.