An Early Danish Computer Game: The case of Nim, Piet Hein, and Regnecentralen

Anker Helms Jørgensen

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-03757-3

An Early Danish Computer Game: The case of Nim, Piet Hein, and Regnecentralen

Anker Helms Jørgensen

Digital Design

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

Abstract

This paper reports on the development of Nimbi, which is an early computer game implemented at the Danish Computer Company Regnecentralen in 1962-63. Nimbi is a variant of the ancient game Nim. The paper traces the primary origins of the development of Nimbi. These include a mathematical analysis from 1901 of Nim that “killed the game” as the outcome could be predicted quite easily; the desire of the Danish inventor Piet Hein to make a game that eluded such analyses; and the desire of Piet Hein to have computers play games against humans. The development of Nimbi was successful in spite of considerable technical obstacles. However, it seems that the game was not used for publicizing the capabilities of computers – at least not widely – as was the case with earlier Nim implementations, such as the British Nim-playing computer Nimrod in 1951.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	History of Nordic Computing 2
Editors	John Impagliazzo, Timo Järvi, Petri Paju
Number of pages	6
Publisher	Springer
Publication date	2009
Pages	283-288
ISBN (Print)	978-3-642-03756-6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03757-3
Publication status	Published - 2009
Event	History of Nordic Computing 2 - Tampere, Finland Duration: 21 Aug 2007 → 23 Aug 2007

Conference

Conference	History of Nordic Computing 2
Country/Territory	Finland
City	Tampere
Period	21/08/2007 → 23/08/2007

Series	IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology
Number	303/2009
ISSN	1868-4238

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-642-03757-3

Cite this

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title = "An Early Danish Computer Game: The case of Nim, Piet Hein, and Regnecentralen",

abstract = "This paper reports on the development of Nimbi, which is an early computer game implemented at the Danish Computer Company Regnecentralen in 1962-63. Nimbi is a variant of the ancient game Nim. The paper traces the primary origins of the development of Nimbi. These include a mathematical analysis from 1901 of Nim that “killed the game” as the outcome could be predicted quite easily; the desire of the Danish inventor Piet Hein to make a game that eluded such analyses; and the desire of Piet Hein to have computers play games against humans. The development of Nimbi was successful in spite of considerable technical obstacles. However, it seems that the game was not used for publicizing the capabilities of computers – at least not widely – as was the case with earlier Nim implementations, such as the British Nim-playing computer Nimrod in 1951. ",

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Jørgensen, AH 2009, An Early Danish Computer Game: The case of Nim, Piet Hein, and Regnecentralen. in J Impagliazzo, T Järvi & P Paju (eds), History of Nordic Computing 2. Springer, IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, no. 303/2009, pp. 283-288, History of Nordic Computing 2, Tampere, Finland, 21/08/2007. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03757-3

An Early Danish Computer Game: The case of Nim, Piet Hein, and Regnecentralen. / Jørgensen, Anker Helms.

History of Nordic Computing 2. ed. / John Impagliazzo; Timo Järvi; Petri Paju. Springer, 2009. p. 283-288 (IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology; No. 303/2009).

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

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