ChessUp at CES

Last week our company attended CES, the Consumer Electronics Show. CES is an annual trade show that takes place in Las Vegas. It is a way for companies to showcase their new products and technologies in different areas of the consumer technology industry.

This year’s event was at a smaller scale than in previous years due to the pandemic and ended one day early. The attendance was also lower with the usual COVID precautions in place. 

The three of us - our CEO Jeff Wigh, Chief Design Officer Adam Roush and myself - packed a few ChessUp boards and traveled to Las Vegas. The event kicked off Monday night with CES Unveiled: an exclusive event attended by the media and select exhibitors. It was the first time ever we had the chance to showcase ChessUp in person. The event was a success as our board was well-received and garnered a lot of positive media attention.

Jeff playing against the AI using assistance

We spent the next day setting up our booth in the convention center at the Venetian Hotel. Our booth included two banners, two ChessUps for the attendees to play on and a monitor that played a video of me playing the AI with assistance on my side.

Our booth at the 2022 CES

I had never been to a trade show before and did not know what to expect. It was a unique experience that forced me to step out of my comfort zone, which was both fun and overwhelming at the same time. We spent the next three days at the booth as hundreds of curious attendees stopped by our booth asking to see how ChessUp worked. It was thrilling to showcase the board to the public for the first time and explain the features while demonstrating them. I played countless games against players of all levels: from complete beginners to experienced tournament players. We even had a couple of our backers stop by our booth! 

We have added more content on our YouTube and social media channels demonstrating more of the features of the board. Keep an eye out for more videos, including some by me giving a preview of what lessons and puzzles will look like for our users.