Astral Checkerboard Decor
A subtrope of Chess Motifs. Somewhere "else" has this checkered motif on the floors, walls or both. It could be a Mental World, a Layered World or just an Eldritch Location.
![](http://static.miraheze.org/allthetropeswiki/c/c4/Madoka_magica_astral_checkerboard_floor_3302.png)
Not necessarily Human Chess, but who knows?
Also known as the Mason Checkered Floor. Compare White Void Room. See also Cosmic Chess Game.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Kyousogiga: Inevitable, given the massive Human Chess and Alice in Wonderland refs.
- All over the place in Black Rock Shooter, be it the OVA, the game or anything else.
- Many of the Witches in Puella Magi Madoka Magica have this motif somewhere inside their closed off worlds.
- When Homura fights the demons at the end of the manga, the fight takes place in a dungeon with a checkered floor.
- A checkerboard floor shows up in Soul Eater in every scene of, and exclusively in, Soul's mental image of his soul world when he's in his weapon form.
- Seen in Nightmare's lair in Kirby of the Stars.
Live Action TV
- The C.I.D. ceiling in Ashes to Ashes. Even used in the promo pictures.
- Twin Peaks has a variation: the black-and-white chevrons on the floor of the Black Lodge.
- Doctor Who, "Mawdryn Undead": Turlough has an out-of-body experience following a car crash, and finds himself in a mysterious void with a checkered background, being recruited as a pawn in a Cosmic Chess Game.
- The cockpit of the Majins/Megazords in Mahou Sentai Magiranger/Power Rangers Mystic Force is a not-actually-real place that looks like a checkerboard floor in the middle of a void.
- For bonus points, the Rangers themselves even have their lower bodies turned into chess pieces bases while they're there.
Film
- All over The Matrix; one example is when Neo goes to meet Morpheus (and first enters "the Real World.") The movie is pretty blatant with the Alice in Wonderland refs in that scene.
- Pan's Labyrinth
- The Devil's office in The Devils Advocate.
- Inception has dream locations like this.
Music Videos
- Tom Petty's video for "Don't Come Around Here No More".
US Canadian Comics
- Gideon Gordon Grave's battlefield in Ramona's mind in the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels has a checkered floor.
Video Games
- Tartarus in Persona 3
- In a similar vein, the Collective Unconscious in the Persona series.
- The heart of the Amala Labyrinth in Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne where Lucifer resides has a checkerboard floor.
- Interestingly, quite a bit on the Mario games. Given the Alice in Wonderland roots, little wonder.
- The Astral Hall in Luigi's Mansion.
- The green tiles in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 will actually disappear if Mario/Luigi were to step on them. Also, in the first game, the staircase leading to the planet on which Mario/Luigi fights Bowser will be smashed apart by meteorites.
- The Temple of Time in Ocarina of Time.
- The Forest Temple has rooms with this pattern as well.
- Sonic 3 and Knuckles features them quite prominently in the Blue Sphere special stages. Green Hill Zone doesn't count, however, since despite featuring a prominent checkerboard pattern, it's not actually otherworldly within the context of the series.
- Touhou: In Fanworks, Sikieiki's Court has a chessboard floor, somewhat justified, given her ability to judge things black and white.
- The Background in the final battle of Lotus Land Story uses a Blue and black checkerboard background.
- Also the Palace of the Earth spirits has a Checkerboard floor
- Yume Nikki has a checkered pattern on Madotsuki's shirt. The Fangames took that and carried on with it, ending up with this trope.
- Chessboard Land in King's Quest VI.
- Quake has levels with this style of decor.
Web Animation
- The Homestar Runner cartoon within a cartoon "Sweet Cuppin' Cakes" is set on a teal checkerboard plain. This is probably the show's least surreal feature.
Western Animation
- My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: there's a notable creepy checkerboard ground in the scenes where the mane cast confront the villain Discord on his throne during part two of the season 2 premiere. Because of Discord, all of Ponyville had effectively been turned into an Eldritch Location.
Web Comics
- Skaia in Homestuck is a Checkerboard PLANET after prototyping enough times.
Real Life
- The black and white checkerboard floor found in all Masonic lodges.
Other
- Due to the ease of generating a checkerboard pattern on an infinite plane, this is a common aspect of early computer-generated images. Compare the classic mirrored sphere on a checkerboard floor.
- Commonly used to represent transparency in images being edited. Used in Paint Shop Pro, Paint.NET, The Gimp, and others.