Hello Kitty, the moon-faced, mouthless white cat which comes on dolls, credit cards, laptops and vacuum cleaners as a global icon of cuteness has now advanced into the world of chess.
Unlike the staid traditional black and white, the two camps facing off on the Hello Kitty chessboard are pastel pink and blue.
The star feline is designed as the queen with her twin sister cast as the king. Bears, rabbits, squirrels and her other friends pitch in to play the rooks, bishops, knights and pawns.
The queen Hello Kitty wears a crown and mantle, holding a staff.
Tokyo-based character goods maker Sanrio has started marketing the Hello Kitty chessboards at 35 000 yen ($325) each.
”We started with mail-order as we do not know how much demand we will see,” a Sanrio official said.
Hello Kitty made a humble start in 1974 as a nameless cartoon cat on a coin purse and is now sold in 60 nations and some 50 000 different products. ‒Sapa-AFP