Picture this: You're an experienced chess player who has hit a plateau at 500 elo. You feel stuck and bored with traditional chess. Then you think, what if I made chess even harder? Well do I have the game for you!

Balance Chess introduces an entirely new dimension to chess: Board balance. The Balance Chess board balances on it's center point and will tip over if both players don't keep the board pieces evenly distributed on the board. One wrong move and BAM, your opponent is doing a victory dance while you sit wondering why anyone thought this game was a good idea.

Balance Chess Rules:

1. All standard chess rules apply. If you don't know the rules, here's the US Chess federation's how to play guide: [https://www.uschess.org/index.php/Learn-About-Chess/Learn-to-Play-Chess.html.](https://www.uschess.org/index.php/Learn-About-Chess/Learn-to-Play-Chess.html.)

2. At the END of your move, the board must remain balanced (ie. not touching the tabletop). This means that the board may touch the table between picking up and placing a piece so long as it is balanced at the end of your placement.

3. Have fun!

It really is that simple!

Printing details:

• This model requires two distinct filament colors (your choice).

• No mid-print filament changes required!

• Use a small amount of glue is needed to adhere the two board halves together or leave them floating

• I HIGHLY recommend that you print all of the pieces to have the same mass! I have included a project file in which all of the pieces are the same mass (3 grams).

• The largest model is 207 x 207 x 25 mm and can be printed on Prusa Mk4, Core One, and XL printers. You might be able to squeeze onto earlier generation Prusa's but your mileage may vary.

Happy Printing!

Update 2/19/2026 - Added checkers pieces!