Lot 39
NIM MACHINE. EARLY ELECTRONIC GAME.
Single-Player Electronic game, 1950s, 295 x 175 x 165 mm,
Single-Player Electronic game, 1950s, 295 x 175 x 165 mm,
3 – 4 November 2021, 13:00 PDT
Los AngelesSold for US$3,825 inc. premium
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NIM MACHINE.
EARLY ELECTRONIC GAME.
Single-Player Electronic game, 1950s, 295 x 175 x 165 mm, metal face with 4 7-position rotary dials with black chicken head knobs, 2 2-position switches, 7 lights, wooden base with colored plexiglas sides.
Including 3 Publications:
1. REDHEFFER, RAYMOND. "A Machine for Playing the Game Nim." Offprint reprinted from American Mathematical Monthly Vol. LV, No. 6, June-July, 1948. Original wrappers.
2. ADAMs, E.W. & D.C. BENSON. Nim-Type Games. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute of Technology, November 1956. Original comb-bound wrappers. A research project funded by the Department of the Army, Ordinance Research and Development and Office of Ordinance Research.
3. Popular Electronics. January 1958. Original wrappers. Features an article with plans for a 2-person Nim machine.
Raymond Redheffer is thought to have created the first electronic game, a machine that enabled the game of Nim. Redheffer in the introduction of the above offprints describes Nim as such: "Starting with an arbitrary number of objects arranged in separate piles, two persons play alternately, removing one or more objects from any one pile in a given turn. The person taking the last object wins, the case which we have designated as the normal case, but loses in the reversed case. An interesting feature of the game is that there is a complete mathematical theory for it, by which a player can infallibly win if given a choice of first or second move."
Redheffer goes on to mention a 1941 machine that used mechanical relays in order to play the game and weighed over a ton, but Redheffer's electronic version comes in at under 5 pounds. The above version appears to be that of Redheffer with both reversed and normal play. It's fascinating to see an electronic game that one plays against a machine from this period.
Single-Player Electronic game, 1950s, 295 x 175 x 165 mm, metal face with 4 7-position rotary dials with black chicken head knobs, 2 2-position switches, 7 lights, wooden base with colored plexiglas sides.
Including 3 Publications:
1. REDHEFFER, RAYMOND. "A Machine for Playing the Game Nim." Offprint reprinted from American Mathematical Monthly Vol. LV, No. 6, June-July, 1948. Original wrappers.
2. ADAMs, E.W. & D.C. BENSON. Nim-Type Games. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute of Technology, November 1956. Original comb-bound wrappers. A research project funded by the Department of the Army, Ordinance Research and Development and Office of Ordinance Research.
3. Popular Electronics. January 1958. Original wrappers. Features an article with plans for a 2-person Nim machine.
Raymond Redheffer is thought to have created the first electronic game, a machine that enabled the game of Nim. Redheffer in the introduction of the above offprints describes Nim as such: "Starting with an arbitrary number of objects arranged in separate piles, two persons play alternately, removing one or more objects from any one pile in a given turn. The person taking the last object wins, the case which we have designated as the normal case, but loses in the reversed case. An interesting feature of the game is that there is a complete mathematical theory for it, by which a player can infallibly win if given a choice of first or second move."
Redheffer goes on to mention a 1941 machine that used mechanical relays in order to play the game and weighed over a ton, but Redheffer's electronic version comes in at under 5 pounds. The above version appears to be that of Redheffer with both reversed and normal play. It's fascinating to see an electronic game that one plays against a machine from this period.
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