- Old Viennese Games Compendium -
I've wanted a good example of the Viennese "Coffeehouse style" set for quite a while. They show up quite often in games compendiums. This turned out not to be such a good example. The pieces are made from an extremely soft wood with almost no weight. The "feel" of the set is entirely off, something that's difficult to tell when buying online. Even so I wasn't expecting a great set (it's easy to see online these knights are poorly carved,) it came with my first games compendium, and it didn't cost much. I'll probably take it off compendium and all if I get a better example of this kind of set. That's not likely to happen any time soon. Until then here's a box:
... I wonder what's inside.
Dominoes, checkers, and chess. I believe there are also dice which live between the black and white checkers. I can't think why I left them out of the picture.
The trays come out.
Chessmen adhere to the tray by sitting on pins.
A line from the Vienna Game chess opening (1. e4 e5 2. Nc6) of course.
Kings
Queens, similar to the kings but shorter. These resemble Staunton queens more than any other kind.
Bishops with the iconic opposite color top. In some of the best sets in this style the bishops "hat" is a different piece of wood. These are just painted.
Knights, a lot like Staunton.
Rooks
Pawns, more like St. George than Staunton, but still very simple.
The other tray...
Dominos made from wood and probably some kind of plastic.
Checkers, probably more plastic.
The bishop tops go a long way to make this extremely simple design attractive even in this low quality set.
