Chess House Review -TOS Crew #hsreviews

We recently received a beginners chess set to review from Chess House.  The Starter Chess Learning Kit came with a neat carrying bag, chess mat, chess pieces, and a dvd explaining how to play the game.

Seeing as how both my husband and I enjoy playing chess I thought this would be a great learning kit for our kids.  With 6 kids that I deem old enough to play chess it would mean that they could play each other or we could play as a family.  I love the idea of family game nights and with the kids still learning it’s an easy boys against girls type game to play as the 6 oldest are 3 boys and 3 girls!  Of course then the two younger girls can think they are helping play too which makes it fun for them as well.

The Starter Chess Kit that we received is available to purchase for $39.95 currently which is $10 off their standard retail price.  You can choose either a green or black bag. We received the green one in our kit.  The great thing about the kit is that it can be used by any age group.  The main focus range is ages 6-12, but it can be used for younger or older. I know an adult that would benefit from this(sorry friend, but you stink at chess).  Maybe I should have my kiddos teach her how to play chess!

As most of you know, we reenact the Civil War and chess is a period game to play.  I would love to someday get one of their awesome looking wooden chess sets to let the kids play on while we’re away.  This past weekend when we spent a day at a reenactment daddy was at they had a lot of fun playing with another reenactors wooden chess set.  But wooden isn’t the only novelty set that Chess House has, they also have life size chess sets which would be great for using at a kids birthday party or in a homeschool group.

Did I mention the intricacy of some of the sets they have?  As I browse their site I am amazed at the detail some of these artists can do.  Wow, just wow.  Our pieces are plastic.  A high quality plastic that is less apt to break(important when working with kids) and they are also easy to replace.  The chess board rolls up to fit in the case and is made in the USA.

Now lets talk a bit about the DVD.  I did sit and watch it with my kiddos.  We had to watch it in small sections as my oldest is only 8 and none of them have super long attention spans if you want them to actually retain what they are watching.  The DVD by itself is $20, which goes to show you what a great deal the Starter Kit really is.

The beginning level dvd we received is the Pawn Level(how cute they name their levels after pieces).  You can purchase a workbook separately to use with the dvd as well.  It does come with a booklet that shows practice positions and exercises to help them learn.  It is in total 49 minutes long.  We ended up watching about 10 minutes at a time the first times we went through it.  The next week we broke it down even more and only watched 5 minutes at a time to help us focus more.  My favorite was how it detailed each piece, what they were, what they could do, etc.  It was great.  Just right for little learners to understand and remember.  For my kids repetition is key which is why we watched the dvd several times to help them “get” it.

If you’d like to read more about what other people thought of the Starter Kit make sure to go to the main Crew Review page and check them all out.  With all of us having different aged children as well as different levels and methods of learning and teaching I’m sure they’ll all prove unique and different.  You’re bound to find one that fits our style.