For student societies and clubs
The term starts.
So does the league.
Board & Pieces gives your society a league that lives on your members’ phones: chess, backgammon, go and eight more games from around the world. A move fits between two lectures, a three-month season runs from the club fair to finals, and when it closes your society has a champion. Students never pay.
Week 1 · club fair
A QR code on the stand.
You set up your society’s community in the app and print its QR code for the stand. Whoever stops by and likes the look of it scans and joins, in one tap. The same link goes in your group chat for everyone who missed the fair.
What your members see
Your society’s
ledger.
This is the app’s real screen, recorded as it runs.
- 1Who’s aheadThis season’s standings and last season’s champion. Every season starts level, so a first-year who joined last week is in the race from day one.
- 2RematchesWho has played whom, and who took the last one. The rematch is one tap away.
- 3Members onlyPeople join through your link or the QR on the stand. Turn on approval and every request comes to you first, so it stays your society’s.
Good to know
Fair questions,
short answers.
- What about exam weeks?
- Whoever opens a game chooses its pace, and one move a day is the default. A slow game simply waits while people revise; quick live games are there for the afternoon the exam is over. Notifications are each member’s own choice.
- Does it cost students anything?
- No. The app is free and has no ads, and your society’s games are covered by the society’s subscription.
- Who can join?
- Anyone with your link, or who scans the QR on your stand. If you like, every request waits for your approval, so the community stays your society’s. Accounts are for ages 16 and up.
- What about privacy and safety?
- Your community is seen only by the people in it. Chat opens only if both players accept, and anyone can be blocked and reported in one tap. There are no ads.
- We are not a chess society. Does that matter?
- Not at all. There are eleven games, from backgammon and go to oware and mū tōrere, and several are learned in minutes. Each has a short lesson in the app and a short story of where it comes from. A culture society, an international students’ society or a faculty society plays just as well.
- How much work is it for the committee?
- Very little. The season closes by itself, the champion is announced by itself, and the next season starts by itself. What is left for you is opening a game now and then.
- What happens after the free season?
- If you would like to carry on, your society or your university’s student-life office starts the subscription. If not, there is nothing you need to do, and your ledger stays where it is.
Setting it up
Ten minutes,
before the fair.
- 1Get the appFree on iPhone and Android.
- 2Set up your societyGive the community your society’s name, enter your first-season code and choose the season: one month or three.
- 3QR on the standPrint the QR code for your stand and post the link in your group chat.
- 4Open the first gameChallenge a member yourself, before the fair is over.
The first season is on us
Try a season,
let your members decide.
Tell us your society’s name and we text you the code for your first season. No card, and no call unless you ask for one.