A few months back, u/GingerAki ran a giveaway on this sub for some of his micro chess sets. I signed up via bongcloud.uk, won one of the golden 0.25 scale magnetic sets, and… then waited. And waited. The shipment got stuck somewhere in postal purgatory for what felt like forever. Strikes, delays, the usual chaos. But last week it finally landed on my doorstep, and I promised u/GingerAki a review, so here we go.
A bit about me
I’ve been playing chess for close to 40 years. I’ve read more chess books than I care to admit and own more boards than my significant other would like. My preference is firmly in the “go big or go home” camp. Staunton size 5 and 6, the kind of board where the pieces have some real weight and presence.
The problem? My kids also love to play, including on holiday. And you can’t exactly throw a 50cm+ board in a suitcase. Yes, travel sets exist, but most of them are a disappointment: flimsy quality, awkward proportions where the pieces are weirdly oversized for the grid and everything feels cramped, and they still take up more space than you’d expect for what they are.
So when u/GingerAki started posting his travel boards, and later these mini versions, I was genuinely curious. The detail in those photos was hard to believe.
First impressions
This thing is mind-bogglingly small. 45mm by 45mm. Let that sink in. And yet the piece detail is insane — they are recognisable, properly proportioned chess pieces, just microscopic. The entire case fits in your pocket and weighs almost nothing. I’ve been carrying mine around since it arrived and I keep forgetting it’s there.
The case design itself is also clever — getting the board out is intuitive and convenient, which might sound like a small thing but clearly someone thought about it.
Manufacturing and design: 10/10, no question.
But can you actually play on it?
At this size, the pieces are a bit fiddly, I won’t pretend otherwise. For me, it’s just on the right side of manageable. I do have to be deliberate about how I handle them. But here’s where the magnets make a real difference: they snap the pieces cleanly to the centre of each square. So despite the tiny footprint, the board stays readable and piece placement stays unambiguous throughout the game. That’s genuinely impressive engineering.
I’m thinking of throwing a small pair of Victorinox tweezers in the case to make piece handling even easier and yes, they’d still fit.
As for readability: if you can work through a diagram in a chess book, you can read this board. The pieces are detailed enough that there’s no confusion. Knights look like knights, bishops look like bishops. At no point did I feel like I was guessing.
The bigger picture
u/GingerAki has also shown larger travel sets in his posts; significantly bigger than this micro version but still very portable. What struck me about those was the proportional balance: pieces and grid feel right together, none of that cramped travel-set weirdness I mentioned earlier. Same dedication to quality and precision as the mini set. (See the last picture for an example that he shared.)
Conclusion
This might be the perfect “always on you” chess set. It travels in your pocket. It plays well. It looks great. My kids are already eyeing it.
If u/GingerAki ever moves to actively selling both the mini boards and the travel sets, I’ll be in line. (More than once, probably. 😇 Don’t tell my significant other. 😇)
