The old Boris chess computer
Truman W. Collins Jr
sold by Applied Concepts Inc around 1978.
When I was a kid we got one of them, and I probably played a
couple of hundred games against it. It came in a walnut box with a
little folding board and pieces. Moves were entered with a little
keypad similar to newer chess computers, and it had an 8 character LED
screen. Its strength was probably only in the 1000 range. It could
be set to think for any period of time, although I found out that if
you let it think for several days, it would reach a point where it
would just start over. Presumably, it ran out of memory and I guess
that was better than crashing.
One of its unique features was that it displayed random messages
across the screen after you made a move. Some of the ones that I saw
in a couple of quick games last night were: "Would you like a draw?",
"Good move", "I expected that", "Spot me a queen?", "Ahh ruthless",
and "I missed that". It was a pretty cute machine, and it has quite a
bit of sentimental value for me.
I ran across it last night after not having thought about it for
about five years, and I played around with it a bit. Some questions
occured to me that someone on this newsgroup might have the answer to.
Was there only one version of this machine, or did they sell newer,
better versions? Does anyone know how much memory it had and how
large the program was? Was this the first commercially available
chess computer, or were there others before it? I remember the Chess
Challengers came out around the same time.
The most interesting question involves the mysterious hidden keys.
If you take the faceplate off, there is another row of keys above the
ones usable from the outside. The only thing I could figure out with
them was that they could generate the letters P, L, and Q in certain
modes. Does anyone have any idea if they had a meaningful use?
Thanks,
-Truman
--
tcol...@teleport.COM Public Access User --- Not affiliated with TECHbooks
Public Access UNIX and Internet at (503) 220-1016 (2400-14400, N81)
Gary M. Watson
>tcol...@teleport.com (Truman W. Collins Jr) wrote:
>>
>> Does anyone here remember the old Boris chess computer? It was
>>sold by Applied Concepts Inc around 1978.
>>
>>about five years, and I played around with it a bit. Some questions
>>occured to me that someone on this newsgroup might have the answer to.
>>Was there only one version of this machine, or did they sell newer,
>>better versions? Does anyone know how much memory it had and how
>>large the program was? Was this the first commercially available
>>chess computer, or were there others before it? I remember the Chess
>>Challengers came out around the same time.
>>
>> The most interesting question involves the mysterious hidden keys.
>>If you take the faceplate off, there is another row of keys above the
>>ones usable from the outside. The only thing I could figure out with
>>them was that they could generate the letters P, L, and Q in certain
>>modes. Does anyone have any idea if they had a meaningful use?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>-Truman
>
>recall correctly). It had different sayings but played the same miserable
>chess (although at that time it was state of the art). Our company began
>just at about the time Boris came out, and I still remember the customers
>laughing at the skill level (or lack thereof) of Boris. We don't hear
>that anymore!
>
>It was not the first. The first was the Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 (most
>of you probably thought it was the Chess Challenger 7 because THAT
>machine sold like crazy and created quite a stir. After Chess Challenger
>1 came 3 then 10 then 7. Boris came out about when the Chess Challenger
>10 arrived. I, personally, am not aware of the "hidden" buttons. Let me
>know if you find anything out. Regards, Steve (ICD/Your Move Chess &
>Games)
Wasn't the Boris a F-8 0.50 MHz w/ 2Kx8 ROM? That rings a bell.
My chess club bought a Fidelity Challenger 1 in 1978 or so, from
Sears for about $200, but it didn't work so we returned it and
they accidentally replaced it with the 3 level model. At the
highest level, it beat most of the kids in the club, but couldn't
beat the top few players or the instructor (who was USCF expert rated.)
The competing product at the time was a little redwood box with
chicklet keys (the challenger had membrane overlay keys) and
a little LED readout for the moves. Was this Boris? Maybe it
was a Z-80... the timing is about right. Sargon came out about
the same timeframe, as I recall, Sargon won the 1978 Microcomputer
Faire competition.
--
Gary M. Watson
Electronic Engineer Internet: tr...@netcom.com
Sigma-Trimm Technologies, A Division of Robroy Industries
350 Pilot Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119 Phone: (800) 423-2024 x2115
** Enclosures for SCSI, RAID, Fibre Channel, and SSA **
Steven Schwartz
jags...@iprolink.ch
>
> Does anyone here remember the old Boris chess computer? It was
> sold by Applied Concepts Inc around 1978.
>
Yes !
When I was a kid my father bought one, since it has still sentimental value
for me I'll never disassemble it to answer your questions, sorry. By the way
Boris is perhaps the FIRST dedicated chess micro. It could be a valuable
item for a collector...
Regards,
P. Jagstaidt
Bruce Moreland
Fidelity has/had a problem numbering stuff. In the Chess Challenger 7, the
skill levels went 1,2,3,7,6,5, in order of increasing strength :) 4 was
"mate finder level", which spent forever thinking. I tried to play a game on
level 4 once, the machine was white (I believe the book was off, I don't
know if it used its book on level 4, not that it matters, the book was only
about fifty positions, maybe fewer). The game went d4 d5 c4 e6. Both
machine moves took several minutes. But it played its third move, Qa4+,
almost instantly. Level 5 took several days to move, occasionally, and was
still weak.
The machine also had another bug. When playing black, after e4 e6 d4 d5, it
would ALWAYS play c5 in response to ANY white third move it didn't have in
book, even ILLEGAL moves. I won some games with a2-d8, but then I discovered
that a2-e8 produced an interesting game, too.
I wore that machine out, it was wonderful.
bruce
In article <4e8uo2$1v...@usenetp1.news.prodigy.com>, LGT...@prodigy.com
says...
>[snip]
>
>It was not the first. The first was the Fidelity Chess Challenger 1 (most
>of you probably thought it was the Chess Challenger 7 because THAT
>machine sold like crazy and created quite a stir. After Chess Challenger
>1 came 3 then 10 then 7. Boris came out about when the Chess Challenger
>10 arrived. I, personally, am not aware of the "hidden" buttons. Let me
>know if you find anything out. Regards, Steve (ICD/Your Move Chess &
>Games)
>
--
The opinions expressed in this message are my own personal views
and do not reflect the official views of Microsoft Corporation.
ChessMan
>There was a 9 after the 7, too.
>
>Fidelity has/had a problem numbering stuff. In the Chess Challenger 7, the
>skill levels went 1,2,3,7,6,5, in order of increasing strength :) 4 was
>"mate finder level", which spent forever thinking. I tried to play a game on
>level 4 once, the machine was white (I believe the book was off, I don't
>know if it used its book on level 4, not that it matters, the book was only
>about fifty positions, maybe fewer). The game went d4 d5 c4 e6. Both
>machine moves took several minutes. But it played its third move, Qa4+,
>almost instantly. Level 5 took several days to move, occasionally, and was
>still weak.
>
>The machine also had another bug. When playing black, after e4 e6 d4 d5, it
>would ALWAYS play c5 in response to ANY white third move it didn't have in
>book, even ILLEGAL moves. I won some games with a2-d8, but then I discovered
>that a2-e8 produced an interesting game, too.
>
>I wore that machine out, it was wonderful.
>
>bruce
>
Bug - no sir - that was a feature - it let you played the heretofore unknowm -
"Hidden French Trap Door" line. ;)
Mike