WOODWHIZ SMART CHESS
Play on your WoodWhiz board
Real pieces on real wood. The board senses every move, lights the way and keeps the 3D board in step with your table.
MOVE LAB
Guided rule checks
Choose a small legal setup. The 3D board shows the required layout and the board LEDs guide any missing or misplaced pieces before the move can begin.
GAME OVER
Settings
SMART BOARD
Your WoodWhiz board
You are playing on the website
No board needed here: play on screen (tap a piece, then its square), try the Move Lab, and tune the look and LED effects in Settings.
Have a WoodWhiz board?
Your board connects through the WoodWhiz app on a PC on the same Wi-Fi as the board. Start the app on that PC: it finds your board by itself. A website cannot reach a board on your home Wi-Fi, so the board is not shown here.
Looking for your board…
Connected
Paired devices
Pair this computer
Pairing gives this device a private key for the board, so it can light the LEDs. You do this once per device.
- Make sure at least one piece stands on the board.
- Press Pair this device. One square blinks blue.
- Lift that piece and put it back. The square flashes green: done.
30 s left
Replace the device that has not been used for the longest time, or remove a specific one first: on a device that is already paired, open Smart Board › Paired devices, remove it there, then press Try again.
Pair with a code
-
Connect the board with USB, open Arduino IDE › Tools › Serial Monitor at
115200 baud and type
STATUS. - Type the developer pairing code it prints below and press Pair (each code works once).
- Connect the board to this computer with its USB cable.
- Open Arduino IDE › Tools › Serial Monitor and set it to 115200 baud.
- Press the board's reset button. The board prints its pairing code (8 letters and digits). It is new after every restart.
- Type the code below and press Pair.
- The board is already paired with another browser (or this computer's key was lost). Pairing again here replaces that key.
-
Connect the board with USB, open Serial Monitor at
115200 baud, type
RESET PAIRINGand press Enter. - The board prints a new pairing code. Type it below and press Pair.
Board not found
- The board is plugged in and powered on.
- The board and this computer are on the same Wi-Fi (not a guest network).
-
New Wi-Fi, or the board cannot reach its saved Wi-Fi? About 90 seconds after
power-on it opens its own setup Wi-Fi
WoodWhiz-xxxxxx. Join it and openhttp://192.168.4.1— see the Network tab.
Enter the board's address yourself
Your router's device list shows the board as woodwhiz-xxxxxx.
Connect and pair your board to change its Wi-Fi from here.
The board keeps a new password only after it successfully joins that network. Your password is never returned to this page.
The board's setup Wi-Fi
The board opens this Wi-Fi itself when it cannot reach a saved network. Keep its details with the board: print the setup card for a sticker or the box.
- Wi-Fi name
- Password
-
Put the board on a new Wi-Fi
While the board is connected here:
- Press Scan Wi-Fi above and choose the new network.
- Enter its password and press Connect & Save.
- Connect this computer to the same new Wi-Fi. The app finds the board again by itself (it remembers the board, not its address).
When the board cannot reach any saved Wi-Fi:
-
Power the board on and wait about 90 seconds. It opens its own
setup Wi-Fi named
WoodWhiz-xxxxxx. Its name and password are shown above while this device is paired (and on the setup card), and in Serial Monitor (115200 baud) when the board starts. - Join that Wi-Fi with this computer (or your phone).
-
Come back to this page: the app finds the board at
192.168.4.1and the controls above work. Or openhttp://192.168.4.1for the board's own setup page. - Choose your home Wi-Fi, enter its password and save. The setup Wi-Fi closes once the board has joined. Reconnect this computer to your home Wi-Fi.
ABOUT
WoodWhiz Smart Chess
WoodWhiz is a wooden chessboard that knows where its pieces are. Hall sensors under every square detect each lift and placement, and an LED under each square shows the selected piece, legal moves, captures, check and any square that needs correcting.
The physical board is the master: this app confirms legal moves from the sensors, mirrors the real pieces on the 3D board — including a piece in your hand or on the wrong square — and keeps the move list and result.
Play two players at one board today, or use the Move Lab to rehearse castling, promotion and captures step by step.
Made by WoodWhiz
The WoodWhiz board, its pieces, the 3D models, the PCB and the enclosure are designed in-house by WoodWhiz (in KiCad and FreeCAD). This app and the board's firmware are WoodWhiz's own software. © WoodWhiz Toys. All rights reserved.
Licences & credits
This app is built with these open-source components. Thank you to their authors.
- three.js r160 (with its OrbitControls, GLTFLoader and BufferGeometryUtils add-ons) — the 3D board. MIT License · Copyright © 2010-2023 three.js authors
- chess.js 1.4.0 — chess rules and move validation (its PGN parser is generated by Peggy 4.2.0). BSD 2-Clause License · Copyright © 2025, Jeff Hlywa
- Stockfish — computer opponent, coming soon. GPL-3.0 License · Copyright © the Stockfish developers. When it ships, its complete source code (and any changes we make) will be offered alongside the app.
The full licence texts are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.