Hi Pre-order customers,

This is the update on ChessUp production posted May 8th.  For previous updates, click here.

 

Production / Shipping News

Top of everyone's mind is when will the boards arrive.  We are standing on the finish line but not quite across yet.  The first units will arrive in the US in June.  We are going to express freight a batch in order to get units in hand in June.  Most units will be in July (worldwide and US).  More details to follow as soon as assembly is done.

Updates:

PCB Assembly (PCB-A) ran behind schedule.  We were quoted 2 weeks turnaround and it is instead wrapping up next week.  In fairness to the PCB-A facility, IC shortages have wreaked havoc with their scheduling.  However, we should have been informed earlier by the vendor.  After some blunt conversations, we are confident PCB-A will be done soon.  We will share pictures when done.

Assembly of finished goods follows right after PCB-A.  See below for info on our new website forum - where we will begin posting milestone based updates (i.e. pics of finished units, pics of freight).

We are late with deliveries.  We know it and are doing everything we can to get this across the finish line.  Please bear with us for one more month.  ChessUp will be "in the wild" by June.  April was a really quiet month mainly waiting on PCB-A.

Forum

Introducing ChessUp Community. 

This forum will do several things for us:

• The software feature space is a chance to suggest and gain support for new features.
• The support and troubleshooting space is the best place to find help for board and app issues.
• The general space is a place to discuss all other topics.  It is also where we will share news.

This forum will adjust as needed to serve as a connection between our team and backers/customers.

App Release

Our team has a June 1st deadline to release the first version of the app.  Here is a tour of the app today to show you what to expect:

Levon Visit

We spent 3 days with Levon to discuss several matters with ChessUp.  One of the best sessions was when he showed us how he trains for chess.  It was fascinating.  The coolest part is many of the tools and features he uses are by no means GM specific.  For example, an opening system trainer is a powerful tool for all.  Our goal is to make chess training engaging and approachable for everyone.  We will draw inspiration from top GM training, but break it down to a simpler tool for all.

And of course we took the opportunity to play him in chess as well.  Check out the video below to see how each of us fared against one of the best players in the world.  Absolutely awesome to have Levon involved in the project.  As you will see - just a brilliant player, fantastic person, and heavily invested in making ChessUp great.

Other Games Demo

Backers have asked for a video showing checkers and the other games several updates in a row.  We have not made the demo video yet - very sorry for that.  Checkers exists in code.  Go and 4-in-a-row are not ready yet.  We are committed to coding all of those games as promised.  We will make the video when we get all of them done.  Sorry for the delays on this feature.

Conclusion

Bryght Labs is 6 people working long days and nights - on a mission to get you your board.  This project has been a lot of work, but it means a lot to us at the same time.  Please give us the chance to deliver.  We need this month to finish this off.

Bryght Labs