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

  • Anker Helms Jørgensen

    Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapterArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-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 languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationHistory of Nordic Computing 2
    EditorsJohn Impagliazzo, Timo Järvi, Petri Paju
    Number of pages6
    PublisherSpringer
    Publication date2009
    Pages283-288
    ISBN (Print)978-3-642-03756-6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2009
    EventHistory of Nordic Computing 2 - Tampere, Finland
    Duration: 21 Aug 200723 Aug 2007

    Conference

    ConferenceHistory of Nordic Computing 2
    Country/TerritoryFinland
    CityTampere
    Period21/08/200723/08/2007
    SeriesIFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology
    Number303/2009
    ISSN1868-4238

    Keywords

    • Nimbi
    • Regnecentralen
    • Piet Hein
    • Computer games
    • Mathematical analysis

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