The Modern Coffee House chess set shown before evolved in the period of social and cultural liberalisation, in particular in that the sets retained religious symbols, like the cross on the kings, while all other socialist countries tried to remove them as far as possible. Anyhow, the good times in Romania lasted until the economic and political situation changed due to several events. In 1978, an important general of the former secret police (‘Securitate’) of the Communist Romania defected to the United States and made the Party feel vulnerable. Furthermore, in 1979 the Second Oil Crisis (due to the Iranian Revolution) and the subsequent 1980 Iran-Irak War pushed the country to a decline. Also, the foreign policy played in the ‘60s and ‘70s by the former president/dictator of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu to win the West’s sympathy while keeping a safe distance from the Soviet Union started to fail after he decided to pay back to the international financial institutions (World Bank, IMF) the entire loan Romania had contracted in the ‘60s and ‘70s for the industrialization and economic modernizing of the country. Relations to the USSR deteriorated after Ceaușescu insisted Romania should be allowed to buy oil from the Soviet Union via the Eastern Bloc Council for Mutual Economic Assistance at prices lower than after the 1979 Oil Crisis. The result was a continuous deterioration of the economic, political and social life in Romania. Political restrictions became public again.

As a result, in this set from the late 1970's the Kings lost their cross finials (again) while the bishops (or fools in Romania) retained some neutral shape. There is testimony from Romanian collectors that the restrictions went so far that chess sets with crosses on top of Kings were taken off the shelves on order from the Party and replaced with this sort of coil rolls heads. King, queen, bishop (fool) and pawn have collars. The knights (resembling the so called "German" knights) have their manes on the right with barely sketched mouth, eyes and nostrils.

The pieces are made of a rather light wood and covered with a clear, lightly reddish lacquer for the white pieces and a dark brown lacquer for the black pieces. As the design is a direct result of the political restrictions implemented by the Ceaușescu government, I labelled this set the Romanian "Political Coffee House" chess set.