Cool ebay find

A pocket chess computer. I think it was made in 1989. Still works great.

"Your CXG Sphinx Chess Card is an ideal opponent. It is ready to play you at any time, as often as you like, at whatever level of skill you choose. Its small size makes it especially suitable for use on a journey in conjunction with a traveling chess set.

The CXG Sphinx Chess Card has 64 different levels. On level 1 it takes an average of 5 seconds per move. On higher levels it takes more time and its playing strength is correspondingly increased; the average for level 64 is 20 to 25 seconds per move.

The CXG Sphinx Chess Card lets you Setup and Verify positions. It also you to save a game, which it will keep in memory until the next time you switch on again

That's pretty cool! I don't suppose it's got a very strong chess engine in it, but still, it would be nice to have around.

Cool. Never thought of checking eBay for anything like that.

I am currently selling my Saitek Electronic Chess - Kasparov Executive on eBay for $45. It has a strong engine and is in very good condition.

Congrats. I own one, too. The novelty is in the fact that you have a chess computer “the size of a credit card.” Other novelties are chess computer/calculator and LCD chess computer/keychain, two practical items geeked out by technology. 

EDIT: Added pics of other novelties

Do you happen to have an instructional manual? No idea how to work the damn thing.

I found mine online. A quick search will lead you to a PDF that you can download and print.

Thanks. Cool collection there you have. 

Know this: the LCD of chess computers are the first to break. I do not know how, but the screens with the full boards do not last regardless if they’re made by Excalibur or Saitek. Fortunately the LCD with just letters and numbers like the screen on the chess calculator, which I actually use at work, are more impervious.

How strong is the engine on the chess calculator?

John bartholomews first opponent was a chess computer and it still works fine.

What information are in these types of books on dedicated chess computers? A part of me feels that they were glorified product catalogs.

I got this book because it has a full listing of its program although there are no pieces for bishops due to the limits of the technology in the 70s.  This was the only way to get homebrew freeware at the time: print the source code and sell them in books or magazines.

Eventually the academe would publish the latest coding techniques for a decade into the Advances in Computer Chess series (damn expensive):

The LCD screen does not have the whole 8x8 board, so it is tougher and industry-perfected by the time the chess computer was manufactured. 

The issue with sensory chess computers is the board itself. The adhesive under the printed board will eventually fail and you might notice less sensitivity when pressing down on the squares, especially the e4-e5-d4-d5 squares.

1300 USCF

http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/calculator_chess.html

Wow you guys really know your chess computers. Thanks for all the info.

No, the Internet knows our chess computers really well. I can only speak for a handful out of personal experience. There are some hard-core chess computer collectors out there. Would you like to live like this:

https://youtu.be/ksbjQzsybGw

Literally every space in his home is used to store his collection.

I don't even own any chess sets: O

Anyways, thanks for your finds! I might buy one

Btw, I can't chat cause this computer is really old. Plus this is my lil bros account so dont ask why about the name.

I seem to have collected several chess computers over the years:

- Novag Star Diamond (table top)

- Novag Star Sapphire (hand held - chess board is screen display)

- Novag Sapphire (hand held with folding magnetic board and pieces)

- Millenium Chess Classics Exclusive (board and module)

- Millenium The King Performance (table top)

- Mephisto Phoenix module (works with the Millenium Exclusive board)

I bought each of these new.

Tony