About the "Awesome Trio"
Behind CheckMate-Vision
Meet the awesome trio behind our game for the blind:
Ryan Fortuin (12), Jair February (11), and Abigail Schubert (12).
Guided by the Booster Kids robotics club, they participated in the 2023/2024 First Lego League (FLL) Masterpiece season.
Their innovative project, a braille chess board, not only made headlines worldwide but also won the innovation category in South Africa and was showcased at the Asia Pacific Open Championship in Australia.
The idea for the braille chess board came from their love for chess and Jair’s mother, who lost her sight when he was just 5 years old.
The team improved their prototype at least five times throughout the season, following the engineering process closely.
A field trip to the Pioneer School for visually impaired children highlighted the lack of games and educational resources for the visually impaired.
This inspired the team to go beyond just developing a chess board.
Our mission is to spread hope and joy by making game nights inclusive for families affected by blindness. We also aim to help schools create inclusive teaching materials for visually impaired students. We've tested multiple games and resources, gathering input from visually impaired people.
All the approved resources are listed on our product page.
"Action without vision means nothing but vision with action can change the world."