Radio Shack Handheld Chess Game

Just bought this handheld chess game off of ebay.It is a fairly old model from 2004 but was listed as new.Features include an openings trainer,mate trainer,historical games,set up position, etc....Has 73 difficulty levels.I am curious as to what its ELO rating might be.Only thing I can think of is to play it on its highest level against an engine with a known ELO rating and on the engines highest level. If the handheld were to win it would give me a rough idea of its ELO.Wondering if there might be other ways of determining the handhelds rating?

For older chess computers you might try this online test. I seriously doubt it is rated over class D (1200-1400 USCF) if that high.

http://www.chessmaniac.com/ELORating/ELO_Chess_Rating.shtml

Any idea how accurate that test might be? It told me 1465 which sounds about right, but I've never played OTB to get a rating.

Thanks for the response.Looks like an interesting test.Will give it a try.Might take a little work as I will have to set up each position...though will be nice to compare against how it does against another engine.

How much did you pay for that?

Gosh, my friend had one that looks like that back in elementary school. I remember it kicked my ass a lot.

I worked at RS in thew 90's, we sold them back then. Very weak chess game, 1400 would be optimistic. . 

Here is a link with more information on that particular model.  The manufacturer claims 1700 elo but that is obviously a lie.  All dedicated computer companies greatly enhanced the ratings of their computers.

http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/e-chess1.html

I paid 12.99 $ for the chess game,plus shipping.....8.55 $. Seemed like good deal considering it was still in the original package.Have to wonder what it originally sold for? Have played a couple of test games and everything seems to work.I am not a very strong player so it should be alright for me for a little while....Now I am ready to pick out one of my chess engines to match it up against.Just noticed it originally sold for 29.95 $....thanks again for the feedback....

OFF TOPIC: Actually I realized today that some of my answers were invalid because I entered moves for my opponent by accident... I took it again and it told me 1705(!). I'm sure you will all be thrilled with this update.

The manifacturer makes the grandiose claim of 1700 ELO but I think something like 1300-1400 ELO may be more accurate for such a device.

Still, for a player like you and me that would be pretty good. I like this kind of device because you can set up a chess board and recreate the game against the engine. If you don't have the opportunity to play OTB against serious opponents, that is as close it can get to a replacement.

            A few yrs back, they made one just chess, no checkers. Try googleling "Talking E-Chess".  Cat. # 60-2846.

Earlier today I had a game going against a UCI engine called Ufim802.I set the engine to a strength of 1700 and put the handheld on level 72. I had a very evenly matched game going but on move 50 realized I made an error inputting a pawn move on about move 45....did not catch it in time and ruined the match....very frustrating.Ufim802 is not a real strong engine...maximum strength is 2000 elo. The handheld played very good and the match probably would have gone into a very long endgame.Will have to try again and try not to make any errors inputting the moves.

Yes.....i saw the talking e chess and would have bought one had I more money to spend.

           Didn't Radio Shack file for bankruptcy 6 days ago??

yup yup

That proves that the chess.com ratings are underrated. Because that link tells me I am 1550...