I haven't seen any chess sets based on body parts. I think it would be a novelty, and would catch on amongst medical school students, and might also be fun in doctors' waiting rooms. (Depending on what you're waiting for.)
My suggestions are: King: Heart Queen: Brain Rooks: Spinal cord? (should be something you have 2 of) Bishops: Lungs Knights: Kidneys Pawns: Fingers, perhaps. Or blood cells, greatly magnified. (One player could play T-cells, the other red blood cells).
It occurs to me that medical students have to dissect things anyway and why not play with real body parts. However, you might be about to eat lunch or dinner and so you don't want to think about that. Suffice it to say that one player could use pig parts while the other uses human parts. Or human and the other uses pig. I'm sorry, I've said too much.-- phundug, Jun 03 2004 Body Worlds (a.k.a. Korperwelten) http://www.bodyworl...m/en/pages/home.aspA fascinating exhibit of genuine, artistically posed cadavers. [Guncrazy, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Carefully sidestepping the obvious phallic king, I see...-- daseva, Jun 03 2004 Any thoughts on how you would make the chequered board?-- dobtabulous, Jun 03 2004 Rooks: thumbs-- dpsyplc, Jun 03 2004 Real body parts could be used if they were first plastinated. While such sets would probably be prohibited for sale in most places, Dr. Gunther von Hagens could probably make a few sets that visitors could play with while visiting his exhibit (see link).-- Guncrazy, Jun 03 2004 // Rooks: thumbs//
Great idea, [dpsyplc]!
I just thought of: One side could play human body parts and the other could play harmful viruses and toxins. E.g. Rooks = Cigarettes; Pawns = bacteria; etc...-- phundug, Jun 03 2004 Bacteria being so easy to push around a table and all... oh, just realised the pieces were *based* on the body parts/harmful things.
... medulla oblongata xf7 - Check.-- Lacus Trasumenus, Jun 03 2004 Educational AND fun !! (if that's what you're into)-- blueturtle, Jun 03 2004 I like this a lot. And not just because the bloody trails across the chequered board would show previous moves.
"Fancy a game of chess?" "OK. Just gimme a minute to scrub up first..."
The king would have to have some kind of beeping monitor-thing attached to it. And you'd need to use a defibrilator to shock the king out of check.
Even a hastily-sacrificed pawn could be brought back into play by a skillful team of trauma nurses...-- lostdog, Jun 03 2004 <Yawn...> chess pieces in the shape of ___.-- RayfordSteele, Jun 05 2004 random, halfbakery