DIY LED Chess Set

Over at Instructables, they've posted a tutorial on how to turn a cheap glass chess board into a glowing, one-of-a-kind LED set.

I had just picked up a cheap-o glass chess set at my local arcade for the low low price of only 15,000 tickets. The novelty of playing with glass pieces quickly wore off, and I wondered how I could make it better. The thought of illuminating the set seemed very appealing, but there were so many different ways that could be done...

The final design I chose (which will be explained in more depth in the next step), was to have each piece contain an LED that would be powered by a conductive board. The board is plugged into an outlet, so there is no need to worry about the power running out. While the pieces are on the board they are "live" and illuminated, and while off the board they are "dead" and dark.

LED Chess Set [Instructables]

[#1 posted by strider_mt2k , June 24, 2008 6:15 AM]

Couldn't this also be done inductively with coils in the board and pieces?

It would require the wiring of the individual pieces as well as the board, and I don't understand enough to know the disadvantages or power requirements so I could be way off here.

[#2 posted by Enochrewt , June 24, 2008 8:30 AM]

15,000 tickets? That's like 200 dollars! In the arcade I used to work at anyway.

[#3 posted by CraziestGadgetsdotcom , June 24, 2008 9:14 AM]

so if you touch the board do you get a little shock?