Mini-Giant Chess & Draughts

A "larger than life" chess set will attract crowds and bring a new dimension to any recreation area or garden. Maxi or Mini-giant chess sets are eye-catching but are also designed to be played. The pieces, in each case, are made from a strong and durable PVC material that is UV protected and completely waterproof.

Note that these sets are considerably smaller (1 foot high King) than the giant versions and are best suited to more modest areas such as a conservatory or small patio garden. The pieces are NOT able to be taken apart and weighted.

Premier Mini-Giant Chess & Draughts

This German made Chess set by Rolly is rather nicer looking and the plastic is noticeably thicker than the Garden Games set below so the pieces are less likely to get squashed if they are badly treated or someone stands on them.

Pictured is the Rolly Chess set on a purpose built patio board. Please click on the pictures to see a larger version.

Rolly also make a matching mini-giant draughts set. This is great for children from about 4 years old and will go nicely with either of the Maxi chess sets.

The pieces are about 11cm diameter, 4.5cm high (4 1/4 inches diam, 1.75 inch high). They come with short rods so that a king consisting of 2 pieces can be moved together.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Rolly also make a lawn-friendly board to go with the sets on this page - 150cm (5 feet) square.

See the photo at the bottom of this page to compare the style and design of the two Chess sets.

Note that the draughts / checkers pieces can also be used for Nine Mens Morris and there is a board available for Nine Mens Morris which is also suitable for draughts / checkers. So if you buy the Nine Mens Morris board and the Checkers / Morris pieces, you get two games instead of one.

Change to $ Change to C	UK pounds (ex.VAT)	Pounds (incl. VAT)	Typical ETA in wkg days	Add to basket
Rolly Mini-Giant Chess set (without board)	£102.04	£119.90	1 + transit time
Rolly Mini-Giant Draughts pieces (without board, also suitable for 9 Mens Morris)	£63.74	£74.90	1 + transit time
Rolly Mini-Giant Lawn-friendly Chequerboard	£85.02	£99.90	1 + transit time
Rolly Giant Nine Mens Morris board (lawn-friendly, also suitable for draughts / checkers)	£76.51	£89.90	1 + transit time

For an immediate quote and ETA, add to the basket & select your location.

Standard Mini-Giant Chess & Draughts

The Garden Games Standard Chess and Standard Draughts sets are perhaps less good-looking than the Rolly set and the pieces are not so robust. However, they include a 1.2m square playing mat and are extremely good value for the price.

The playing mat is not the same quality of the larger sets being made of a relatively thin plastic sheet. The base size of the Garden Games Chess pieces is slightly less than those of Rolly at 9.5cm although this makes little practical difference.

The Draughts pieces are 10cm diameter. They come with rods to hold the Kings together and the thin plastic sheet Chequerboard.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Change to $ Change to C	UK pounds (ex.VAT)	Pounds (incl. VAT)	Typical ETA in wkg days	Add to basket
Mini-Giant Chess set (Garden Games with board) Price includes delivery!	£33.11	£38.90	1 + transit time
Mini-Giant Draughts set (Garden Games with board) Price includes delivery!	£31.40	£36.90	1 + transit time

For an immediate quote and ETA, add to the basket & select your location.

Creating your own Board

Many people opt to create a permanent board on hard ground. You can use patio tiles, or paving slabs or just paint squares on clear ground. For these maxi sets, squares of around 150-300mm square are recommended (ideally 200-250mm but the 2 pictures above show a patio with squares 150mm and that works fine). Email us for some tips on painting your own board.

Giant Chess Comparison

Comparison of Queen, Pawn, King & Knight pieces.

For each pair, the Rolly Giant pieces are on the right; the Garden Games pieces are on the left.

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The Origin of Chess

A great deal has been written about the origins of chess and there is still a lot of debate on the subject. The earliest clear ancestor of chess is shaturanga or chaturanga which was invented by a 6th century Indian philosopher. It was a battle between four armies each under the control of a Rajah (king), two players being loosely allied against the other two and and each containing 4 corps - Infantry, Cavalry, Elephants and Boatmen. The board of 64 squares used for shaturanga, was borrowed from an earlier game called ashtapada, which was a race game played in ancient India.

Under Hindu law, gambling became forbidden early on in the Hindu civilisation and, to avoid the gambling laws, shaturanga players dispensed with the dice. Another early modification was the merging of the allied armies into a single army making the game a two player form and duplicating the pieces, both developments which have survived until today. Other changes also occurred; and the resulting game was called shatranj. 

There are three versions of the story of arrival of shatranj in Europe - did it come from the Saracens via Spain, from the Byzantine empire as a present to Charlemagne or was it brought back from the Middle East by Knights returning from the Crusades?. Nonetheless, in Europe, the game developed into modern European chess now played worldwide while in China, Japan, Burma, Thailand and Korea, other variants became just as popular.

You can learn more about the History of Chess from The Online Guide to Traditional Games.

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