[1] Mephisto consisted of a life-size figure of an elegant devil, with one foot rendered as a cloven hoof, dressed in red velvet and seated in an armchair in front of an unenclosed, open-sided table.
This table set-up was provided to reassure the player that there were no compartments beneath the board where a man could be hidden (as in "The Turk").
The chessboard was noted as having had indentations on each square that held the bases of the chessmen to prevent them from moving unintentionally.
The figure of Mephisto itself was bolted to the table at the chest to enable its arm full reach across the board.
When playing ladies, however, Mephisto would first obtain a winning position before losing the game then courteously offer to shake their hand afterwards.