Video Chess - true or false?

[maibock]

Great site guys! I'm enjoying it thoroughly..

 

I recall a tale from childhood in regards to Video Chess, it was rumored that the 7th game(1-8 ), which was the most difficult level, would take over 24 hours before each move.. is this true?

 

I remember trying it for a few hours with friends, as we went out to play and came back and it was still "thinking".. naturally, we'd want to play something else so we never really were able to see for sure.. One night, I tried to leave it on overnight and someone had turned it off, so I was never able to know for sure..

 

thanks

[Chris++]

The VCS won't always remain idle as it ponders its next move...

 

http://www.digitpress.com/eastereggs/26videochess.htm

 

 

CF

[Voch]

According to the manual (scroll to the SKILL LEVELS section at the bottom) it would take up to 10 hours. I've never had the patience to wait...

[maibock]

nice links - thanks!

[Tempest]

I believe it was the Intellivision version of chess that was known to take days to calculate the next move at the highest difficulty.

 

Tempest

[Cupcakus]

I believe it was the Intellivision version of chess that was known to take days to calculate the next move at the highest difficulty.  

 

Tempest

 

What's the point? Who decides this crap :-) why in the world would anyone make a game that takes over a day to make a move. So they could market it as being a very smart chess computer... you just have to let it think for 24 hours.

 

Silly.

 

[Chris++]

You just have to let it think for 24 hours.

 

Like me without coffee.

 

 

CF

[Voch]

Maybe it's meant to simulate those sickos who play chess via snail-mail. You know...getting a letter once a week saying "fxe5 Ne4" or some nonsense. (I have no idea what that means...I copied it from a web page)

 

I have to add this:

 

Mel Brooks as King Louis: "Knights...jump queen!"

 

Voch

[broncoman]

i remember one time as a kid my dad was playing checkers on the intellivision he won but it whould not let him and it got real real hot so he decided to turn it off . funnt he won but it said i don't think so

[NE146]

aww come on. Think of when this was released! Back then it was a big deal to play chess "against the computer". Take a look at all the Fidelity Chess Challenger's that were released (as well as others) during that time. Not to mention that they managed to put a decent Chess algorithm into an Atari 2600.. Who woulda thought!

 

But yeah I remember when I asked for this cart for christmas (being a huge chess fanatic as a kid). I'd set up the pieces on a real board and use the tv screen to only tell me what move the VCS did. But I think the highest level I'd play was about 3 or so, because the upper levels just took too long as stated.

 

But having said that, long drawn out chess games are nothing unusual. I mean you still had guys who did correspondence chess where they'd mail you their move. It's no big deal. Of course in this day and age with rapid communications, I'm sure it's changed somewhat. But you can still have your extreme long chess games that last for months.

[Callipygous]

Even today, chess programs have a very long or never stop settings. These "high" settings are not for playing the computer, but for analysing a position. Leave it on overnight and see if the world champ really messed up - not likely :-).

[broncoman]

i still love the old systems regardless last night i fired up my old supercharger to show my girlfriend it still worked she thought it was awsome id like to see if my playstation works as good in 20 years well see

[Cupcakus]

i still love the old systems regardless last night i fired up my old supercharger to show my girlfriend it still worked she thought it was awsome id like to see if my playstation works as good in 20 years well see  

 

My PS already doesn't work anymore :-)

[King Atari]

Yeah, overplay the original PS, and it will get all skippy and choppy, you actually have to turn it over to make it work right (and eventually that will wear out, too). Mine works fine, and I plan on keeping it that way (I'm not much of a PS fan, anyways).

[broncoman]

yeah i rmember when the first model came out in 95/96 a month after i got it i had to turn it over man i was pissed damm buggy crap system but my atari 2600 is now 22 years old it's stlill fires up not to bad talk about solid state

[jsoper]

So these two guys were playing chess through the mail, then the first guy gets a surprise letter saying he had lost the game. He's so furious he travels to the 2nd guy's house and starts beating him up. The 2nd guy shoots him in self defence and is arrested for murder.

 

During the trial, the prosecutor asks him how it all got started. He said ...

.

.

.

.

.

the check was in the mail

[AtariDude]

I remember reading an article once about someone who used the Atari 2600 chess program and left it running over night to see what move the computer would make in a difficult position. When he went to check it, the pieces were in the wrong place. He wrote to a magazine about it and they responded with the smarty answer that if you had to wait for 24 hours for a human being to move, you would move the pieces out of order too just to relieve the boredom