The Legend of Zelda Chess Set by USAOPOLY - 32 Custom Sculpted Pieces with Link vs Ganon | Official Nintendo Licensed Board Game | Perfect for Game Nights, Collectors & Zelda Fans

I may be a Legend of Zelda fan. It's one of the first games I ever finished. I spent hours and hours playing it on my original 8-bit NES.So with the Switch and Breath of the Wild having grabbed a lot of attention around our house, I picked up this Legend of Zelda chess set to start getting my kids used to more strategic thinking, using something they could identify with.I'll admit that I was a little leery of buying after reading the only reviews available at the time, but I'm glad I did. This is a great chess set, and I totally disagree with what those reviewers had to say. Since people deserve to know the detailed breakdown, I'll go over it quickly:The board is the kind of material you would expect from a board game. It's not on the level of bargain bin stuff at the big retailers. It's totally normal, thick, board game stock. And it looks very nice! People wanting a wooden board at this price point don't understand what wood costs. I bought myself a solid wood Tak (another abstract strategy game) board for $65 last year—the board has a smaller grid than a chess board, so it's less wood...so, solid wood is out. As for the kind of thin wood you can find in less expensive chess sets—it's so thin that you worry about damaging it! At this price point, a typical board or a really thin wood board is about all you can expect, and this board is more portable than a wooden one. (More on that in a bit.)The pieces are awesome. Yes, they are vinyl. That's the stuff collectors get for the most part. The only metal collectors pieces out there are the high end ones, and this is not a high end pricepoint. Wood doesn't hold the detail or have the durability of vinyl, so the fact that these are NOT wood is a plus. Yes, metal would have been better, but metal with this much detail and in this size is expensive. (And quite heavy.)The box that everything comes in is surprisingly nice. It's even got plastic standoffs on the corners to keep it from being damaged. If you've ever purchased anything online ever, you know how easily THAT happens! It isn't a small box, but it makes for a good, sturdy storage container for the set, and displays it really nicely. Biggest unexpected trait of the set for sure, but one which helps if you want to have the set nearby and not just lying around. (Again, I have kids...I don't leave my stuff out.)This is not my "nicest" chess set, but it's a fraction of the price of what I paid for it, and my kids absolutely love the fact that Link and Zelda are in the game. Now that they're in bed, the wife and I are going to play. Guess who "gets" to be Ganondorf?This is definitely perfect for Zelda fans, but if you aren't a big fan you will have issues playing.Fans will appreciate the pieces being taken from Classic Zelda (OOT, if memory serves) such as Ganondorf, TwinRova, Zelda, Link, Palace soldiers as pawns, and they are not your typical chess pieces. There was a nice collector's book included. The pieces are heavier than a typical chess board pieces and they are extremely sturdy for plastic, not pewter or metal (if memory serves).The only drawback in my opinion is Although the pieces are labeled (as a just in case), they are a bit hard to see the engraving on the black side. They are easier to read on the white side, but not by much.I was on the fence about buying this due to all the mixed reviews, but combining chess and Zelda was too good of a gift idea to pass up. Once I received the chess set I was very impressed and figured all the bad reviews must be from chess elitists. The pieces are plastic but feel nothing but quality. The case has a custom carved foam for each piece making it hard for me to believe you can get wrong pieces since they won't even fit. The only pieces that were bent are the Navi wings and they were able to bend right back in place. This is a great chess set and I recommend it for any Zelda fan.Box "broke" the first time my son opened it to play, the glue let go and the back side of the box no longer stays together. It's hard to put them back in the foam without ripping the foam...i think the price is a bit high for these kind of issues but everything else is great, love the set itself and so does my son.This is a great looking chess set. I bought it for my Fiancé for his birthday. I thought the pieces were metal since the box is kind of heavy, but they are plastic... The pieces still look great but we wish they were metal since at the stores this is a $70 set! The box you keep it in is nice, so that is a plus! And the board you get will probably wear out quickly if you play a lot.It's a pretty fun item to have if you love the Legend of Zelda franchise.Personally, I found some of the pieces to be oddly colored, and the board appears to be a high-quality cheap folding chessboard complete with Zelda features.On more of a positive note, the pieces came in foam with snug cut-outs for each individual piece. The box has a light magnetic seal and it also shipped with corner covers.This was the perfect gift for my husband's birthday. We got the set in about a week ago and it was all packaged very nicely. All of the pieces had their own cutout in foam to keep them in place, and even labels as to what they were on the board. It has already been used twice to teach the kids how to play.I bought this for my step son and he loves it. I wanted to get this for him since he is on the chess team and loves the Zelda games. If you are a chess and Zelda fan this is a great purchase. The board is really cool and the pieces look really good. Definitely worth the money!Love how it is very presentable and looks great quality... Unimpressed about the packaging as it was as it is not boxed up or anything. very unsafe!GorgeousPieces are nice, board is cheap.Alors ça de ma vie on me l avait jamais faite ! Les étiquettes coller sur la boite comme ça. Même pas envoyer dans un carton ? La boîte est toute abîmés. Un jeu à 80 euros en plus pour mon fils qui fait une collection zelda !!! Une honte à vomirI can understand what it must have taken to design, mould, and produce the pieces. They're neat, and they span the whole Zelda franchise, not just one game. So that's fun.The board though. Jesus. It's made of cardboard and it folds in half. Absolutely brutal. For the price, I was expecting a board that clicks together or at LEAST is more high-quality. This is like buying a very expensive Monopoly game just because it comes with neat player pieces, but worse, because Chess is significantly older than Monopoly, so you'd think that a solid board would be important since every chess board is nice, and every Monopoly board is a folding piece of cardboard.I'm not giving it 1 star, since the pieces are unique and nostalgic. But I'm not giving it 5 stars, since there's no way these unique and nostalgic pieces should be played on such a stupidly shoddy and poorly thought-out chess board accompanying them.