Woodpusher's Gambit
Woodpusher's Gambit 
        Woodpusher  noun.  A chess player of limited skill.
        Gambit      noun.  1: a chess opening in which a player risks one or more 
                           pawns or a minor piece to gain an advantage in position

At the Burn, 2005:







Building the set:

One night late in 2004, Stephen, Marianna and Tim decided to make a giant metal chess set for the '05 Burn. We like chess, making things out of metal is fun, and we thought it would look really cool on the playa.


  • These are the early design sketches.
  • The electronics kit for every piece.
  • A homebuilt tube-bending machine. It isn't pretty, but it works.
  • The exercise in long-forgotten high school geometry for figuring out the sheet-metal cutouts.
  • The story of the first prototype pawn.

    And finally, here are a bunch of pictures and information from our first, second, third and fourth and fifth through seventh group build weekends. There are no pictures from the final weekend: everybody was too busy to even stop and take a picture!

    Questions, comments, ideas? You can send us email at chess (at) curple.com.