Chess set with Sonic the Hedgehog characters, made in China for Gaya Entertainment in 2009

A rectangular, card box contains the game board, instruction booklet and a white, plastic insert. The insert fits into the whole box base and is moulded to hold the thirty two playing pieces.

The anthropomorphic characters from Sonic the Hedgehog make up the plastic playing pieces, each piece standing on a circular base. In order to distinguish the pieces of one player from another, sixteen bases are orange and sixteen dark brown. Of the thirty two pieces, the two Kings are Sonic, two Queens are Amy Rose, four Bishops are Tails, four Knights are Knuckles, four Castles are Master Emerald and the sixteen Pawns are Rings.

The chequered board has sixty four squares arranged in an eight by eight grid of alternating brown and orange squares, with a faint graphic of Sonic the Hedgehog's face in the centre and digitally illustrated, tufted green grass forming a square round the playing area.

The box lid shows the photographed characters of Knuckles, Amy Rose, Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails, standing in a digitally illustrated tropical landscape. The characters stand on a brown and orange chequered chessboard in a rocky cove. They are facing forwards, surrounded by spiky leaved sunflowers, palm trees with leaves that resemble folded card, tufted green grass and blue water. Across the cloudy sky is the wording:

'SONIC / THE / HEDGEHOG ^TM / 3D CHESS / Schach / Jeu d'échec / Gioco degli scacchi / Ajedrez'

The black and white instruction booklet contains the rules of the game printed in seven languages.

Sonic the Hedgehog is an iconic figure from the realm of video games. He first appeared in 1991 and was Sega's answer to the popularity of Nintendo's Mario character. The basic game has Sonic racing through levels in different zones, catching power rings and trying to avoid obstacles. Other characters appear in the games including Tails the Fox, Knuckles the Echidna and Amy Rose, a female hedgehog who considers herself to be Sonic's girlfriend. Together with Sonic himself, all these feature as chess pieces in this set.

The chess board is based on the Green Hill Zone of the game which was the first Sonic zone ever made. As part of its tropical landscape the zone featured brown and orange chequered hillsides.

B.82:1 to 37-2015