On Ultra Rare Chess Computers..

[Steve B]

with the Advent of Ebay these days most collectors can get up to speed with a fairly decent collection in a relatively short period of time if they are willing to spend a few bucks

however some chess computers have never been offered on Ebay and indeed are rarely seen in most good collections..

computers this rare are described as Ultra Rare by many collectors Worldwide..

one such computer is the Splice Byte XD300
the only chess computer ever made in South America(Brazil).. it was an illegal clone of the Fidelity Chess Challenger 7



the CC7 was the best selling chess computer of all time with 600,000+ units sold
so its no wonder that others tried to cash in on its success
the craftsmanship of the Byte was far superior to the CC7 and is worth far more today

on any given day ..there are perhaps 5-10 CC7's being offered on Ebay ,with the typical selling price about $20-$25
the Byte..should one ever appear on Ebay.. would sell for

Mega Bucks Regards
Steve

[mhull]

with the Advent of Ebay these days most collectors can get up to speed with a fairly decent collection in a relatively short period of time if they are willing to spend a few bucks

however some chess computers have never been offered on Ebay and indeed are rarely seen in most good collections..

computers this rare are described as Ultra Rare by many collectors Worldwide..

one such computer is the Splice Byte XD300
the only chess computer ever made in South America(Brazil).. it was an illegal clone of the Fidelity Chess Challenger 7



the CC7 was the best selling chess computer of all time with 600,000+ units sold
so its no wonder that others tried to cash in on its success
the craftsmanship of the Byte was far superior to the CC7 and is worth far more today

on any given day ..there are perhaps 5-10 CC7's being offered on Ebay ,with the typical selling price about $20-$25
the Byte..should one ever appear on Ebay.. would sell for

Mega Bucks Regards
Steve

The name makes one wonder if the processor was re-engineered with bitslice technology. IIRC, some bitslice 6502 processors were made that could clock to 20 Mhz and were used in some Fidelity experimental machines.

[Steve B]

The name makes one wonder if the processor was re-engineered with bitslice technology. IIRC, some bitslice 6502 processors were made that could clock to 20 Mhz and were used in some Fidelity experimental machines.

Hmmm
looks like i need to compare the two computers although i am fairly certain the two are exactly the same

time for another addition to ...

http://www.talkchess.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25615

A Collectors Work Is Never Done Regards
Steve

[Tommy]

Hi Steve!

Thanks for sharing your photos and your knowledge! I was wondering if you know anything about the following computer I picked up from ebay recently...



It's a Hanimex HCG1900, which I presume is a re-badged CXG of some sort. It uses reed switches to automatically detect when a piece is moved. All reed switches still work I'm pleased to say. It has 12 levels, the 12th level is a mate search level. I'm not sure what year this came out, I'm guessing 1983-84. The manual claims the chess computer is in "world championship class". The manual also says the following, "Developed from the program which won a clear victory in the second European Microcomputer Chess Championship, it has since undergone major modifications which have greatly enhanced its ability".

Also, I thought you might be interested to know that my CC7 (picked up from ebay) still has the original priced tag attached to the box. It cost $199.00 from Grace Brothers. That's quite expensive for the late 70's! I guess it was state of the the art back then.

Cheers,
Tom.

[Steve B]

Hi Thomas

nice computer you have there
i believe the Hanimex is the same computer as the CGL Computa Chess Champion which won the 1984 European Chess Computer tournament



the program was an early Version of Richard Langs Psion program

$199 is a very high Price for the CC7
i remember that the USCF offered the CC7 to all members for $99 soon after its release
one of the reasons that it sold so well was its very low price,at that time it was unheard of for a chess computer to sell for less than $100

Best Regards
Steve

[Steve B]

There is more to collecting chess computers than meets the eye
aside from the computers themselves a whole cottage industry of auxiliary items such as Chess Printers,Add-on Modules ,Dust Covers,Clocks..etc etc sprung up to satiate the unquenchable thirst of the Hard Core Collector

some of these items were very commonly found while some are even rarer then the computers themselves

one such Ultra Rare Add-on item was the Fidelity 5 module set of Fide Encyclopedia of Chess Openings modules
each module came with its own instruction manual and dealt with major opening lines
the modules could be used in several of the High End Fidelity Computers of the day

a complete set sold for $600 and this was over 25 years ago when they were released for sale



Hardcore XXX Collecting Regards
Steve

[Graham Banks]

$199 is a very high Price for the CC7
i remember that the USCF offered the CC7 to all members for $99 soon after its release

Best Regards
Steve

I think that $199 Australian wouldn't have been too much different to $99 US.

[Steve B]

I think that $199 Australian wouldn't have been too much different to $99 US.

right!
Thomas is from the land of Oz
i missed that
My Bad Regards
Steve

[Steve B]

When we speak of the Ultra Rare we are of course dealing only with chess computers actually RELEASED for sale although generally in very small quantities
there are of course chess computers that exist today that were never actually sold to the public
Prototypes and design models that either were scraped as being unmarketable or never made it to market because the company went out of business before competing the work on the model

one such computer is actually a version of the well known Boris released by Applied Concepts
the Boris is well known for being one of the earliest chess computers sold to the public and had a scrolling display screen which made comments throughout the game often times rude in nature

not so well known however is this particular Boris which dwarfed in size even the mega main frames of its day
it stood 10 feet tall and was fully operable
shown here by the owners of the company



not sure how it was powered but i think it took 10,379 AA batteries
the Power Adaptor for it is now used as one of the suspension cables for the Brooklyn Bridge

Legend has it that it still in existence today secretly hidden away in an Airplane hanger somewhere in the desert region of the American Mid West

Area 51 Regards
Steve

[Steve B]

Here is a rare Bird seldomly seen
released in 1984 it was the very first Auto Sensory chess computer to contain no distracting leds or lights on the playing board itself
released decades before ..it was the Father of the DGT board and Tasc Smart Boards

moves were indicated by a system of leds and on the display screen in the attached display unit
the engine was by the Husband and Wife Spracklen programming team

the Unusually Rare Fidelity Elite Private Line:



Private Parts Regards
Steve