My chess strategy doesn't extend too far beyond pulling my knights out first, because that's what the computer games always do against me. But with this cube-based set, I'd probably need a strategy just to remember which piece is which.

Chess has been reimagined more times than anyone cares to count. But Scott Cruz's chess set, designed around a cubic pawn, makes the game even more difficult to master, rendering all the pieces as rectangular towers of different heights.

Thankfully, Cruz has included a built-in cheat sheet for the easily confused; each piece is indented with tiny squares showing its possible moves.

Still, my go-to set-up mnemonic—"the Queen always starts on her own color"—won't work too well on the gray scale board. [The Design Blog]