Need 8000 black 3x3 plates + same in white

Onesy

Hi nice to be here | (• ◡•)|

I need some advice

I’m building a crazy chess set to test out my idea for a metamaster Fairy Chess game that is also 4D (topside and underside for every level)... the game has like 16k cells so that’s 8k black 8k white minimum (depends how far I take it cos it can go up to “38 Dimensional“ Chess)

I chose Lego cos of the studs and the modularity, already tried magnetic vinyl and so on but since the nature of this thing is to try a bunch of stuff out then reduce and remove what doesn’t play well I’m thinking Lego is a better idea rather than rebuilding all those boards every time I come upon the need I can just utilise Lego

But I’m not sure how to find 8k of one specific piece in both white and black 🤔

Onesy

Won’t let me edit; rewrote for clarity...

Hi nice to be here | (• ◡•)|

I need some advice for bulk buying 😂

I’m building a crazy chess game to test out my ideas for a metamaster Fairy Chess game that is also 4D (topside and underside for every level)... the game has like 16k cells in its simplest form and 24,800 in its more complicated form (and even more than that in its absolute form but that detail is irrelevant rn)... so that’s 8k black 3x3 plates and 8k 3x3 white plates minimum (as I say depends how far I take it cos it can go up to “38 Dimensional“ Chess)

I am not married to 3x3, 4x4 could work also but I’d prefer the odd number and 3x3 is the minimum it can be imo due to sharing cells and the required space for each pieces design

I chose Lego cos of the studs and the modularity as I already tried magnetic vinyl for the cells and that works but has its own issues... since the nature of prototyping this thing is to try a bunch of stuff out that might not work then reduce and remove what doesn’t play well I’m thinking Lego is a better idea rather than rebuilding all those boards every time I come upon the need to...

I can just utilise Lego and save myself a huge headache but I’m not sure how to find 8k of one specific piece in both white and black and whether that’s remotely cost effective tbh 🤔

Hoddie

You could try emailing Lego customer service, but even if they can help, it's going to cost you

A local LUG (Lego User Group) may be able to place an order with Lego for you, but I'm not sure how quick or flexible that process is, whether they would be able to get so many of those parts.

You could also approach some of the bigger sellers here who may be able to accommodate you in the near future - if they know they have a buyer lined up, they might be able to secure the items you want.

4 x 4 may be cheaper than 3 x 3 because they're far more common.

Are the colours fixed at black and white? Others may be cheaper.

Geert Middelman

I would call Lego directly indeed. In total for sale I see a little over a 1000 black ones. White ones there is one seller with an insane amount, so you might be more lucky there. But looking at the prices you'd be almost 2 grand in for only the white ones already.

As suggested, is there no alternative build possible with more common pieces? 2 x 2 would be very easy to gather from just a few sellers, 4 x 4 should also be doable.

antant7

My guess is that you are looking for the 3x3 plates to have a center stud for the chess pieces? In that case, you may also want to consider Plate 2 x 2 with Groove and 1 Center Stud (23893 / 87580)

Sounds very interesting! Good luck and keep us posted

Calibrick

While I have no additional advice to offer, I too am super intrigued by your build!!! Would love to hear about the progress of this and see the completed product down the road!

And I guess if you find physically obtaining the parts to be implausible (though I think a LUG could definitely help, or even LEGO directly), you could design and build it virtually using one of LEGO's online tools, and then submit it as an IDEAS set! :-)