Collector?s Corner: KUMA II

[JonP01]

Well you learn something every day. I did not know about Koma II. Shouldn't this valuable information be added to the Wiki? I doubt Steve has that one either. And my guess is this very same seller could well be putting that one up in a couple of days as well.

Steve and others might be intrigued to know that Ruma II was only sold in the Exclusive wooden board - it was not sold in the modular board. Apparently the construction of the unit was - in quite a departure from normal Mephisto practice - contracted out to RFT veb Mikroelektronik in East Germany. Rumour had it that RFT veb Mikroelektronik had literally tons of raw wood supplies that were otherwise going to be turned into Chessmaster Diamond computers. Mephisto thus seized on the business opportunity to not only compete in the tournament in Eastern Europe, but also farm out the manufacturing for this particular computer to an Eastern European company. It was a win-win situation for everyone involved.

In fact, if one looks at the particular piece on offer on eBay, one can discern the markedly different finish of the Exclusive board compared to the West German products of the time. Note particularly the light haze marks on the dark squares - a legacy of the sealing laquer used to withstand the harsh Eastern European climate but which came a little unstuck when subject to the more alpine-like climates of south-western Europe.

Nevertheless Robert, I agree that these are amazing finds and that

Four figures is definitely on the cards Regards

Jonathan

[palmer]

Please go to this webpage if you are interested in the company prduceing the Kuma Module :

http://www.kumavision.de/produkte/kuma_module.jsp

Because its a company that cooperated with Hegener and Glaser it is a german website.

[Steve B]

Well you learn something every day. I did not know about Koma II. Shouldn't this valuable information be added to the Wiki? I doubt Steve has that one either. And my guess is this very same seller could well be putting that one up in a couple of days as well.

Steve and others might be intrigued to know that Ruma II was only sold in the Exclusive wooden board - it was not sold in the modular board. Apparently the construction of the unit was - in quite a departure from normal Mephisto practice - contracted out to RFT veb Mikroelektronik in East Germany. Rumour had it that RFT veb Mikroelektronik had literally tons of raw wood supplies that were otherwise going to be turned into Chessmaster Diamond computers. Mephisto thus seized on the business opportunity to not only compete in the tournament in Eastern Europe, but also farm out the manufacturing for this particular computer to an Eastern European company. It was a win-win situation for everyone involved.

In fact, if one looks at the particular piece on offer on eBay, one can discern the markedly different finish of the Exclusive board compared to the West German products of the time. Note particularly the light haze marks on the dark squares - a legacy of the sealing laquer used to withstand the harsh Eastern European climate but which came a little unstuck when subject to the more alpine-like climates of south-western Europe.

Nevertheless Robert, I agree that these are amazing finds and that

Four figures is definitely on the cards Regards

Jonathan

Interesting info Jon!
i do know that the Kuma II was also available as a PC Emulation as the Roma module was..but for that i guess you can ask....hmmm..you.. i guess

Kuma Sutra Regards
Steve