Equipment/Chessboard bandana
To quote the Looney Labs website: "Just what every well prepared gamer needs: a chessboard that you can fold up and put in your pocket -- or even wear on your head! This 100% cotton bandana is screen-printed in black and shades of gray, and has a beautiful curlicue border designed by Alison 'Looney' Frane, which vies with any in your collection. Great for Icehouse games and any others that use a chess/checker board as a playing field."
The chessboard bandana is currently available.
The squares on the bandana are 1.75" on a side, and so they perfectly fit a large piece lying on its side. This makes it the perfect play area for a game like Pikemen, as shown in the illustration.
See the list of games which can use a chessboard in Category:Chessboard.
History[edit | edit source]
Originally, this product was included in the "Black Ice" expansion set for the "Icehouse: the Martian Chess Set" edition of the Icehouse set (2000). The first chessboard bandanas did not have the paisley border; they were just a standard black and white chessboard. The more attractive second version quickly followed, and the new bandanas were also released as a stand-alone product. They eventually went out of print.
There was a resurgence of interest in this board and a brand new series of chessboard bandanas was in pre-production for a 2012 Kickstarter, but they didn't get enough backers.
It returned to production as a stretch goal for the Pyramid Arcade Kickstarter (2016), and remains available for sale as an individual item in the Looney Labs store.