This fun little electronic filled box was hand built probably in the late 1950s or early 1960s to play the classic game of NIM. I must admit that I purchased this as a bit of a mystery, so my thanks go to Jerry Walker for actually working out what this was and also tying it to the original feature in Popular Electronics Magazine of January 1958.
The ancient game of NIM holds a special place in the history of computer games and the first Electro-mechanical version (The Nimatron) was created in 1940 for the New York World’s Fair. By the 1950s the craze for these electronic and electro-mechanical games really took off and I am sure the relevant schematics produced in Popular Electronics in 1958 would have been keenly attempted by many an amateur enthusiast at the time.
You can watch Jerry’s video below for more details about how to play this, and as you can see it is offered in decent original condition. I don’t know if it has any later replacement parts and it is quite hard to put an exact date on this game, but judging by the materials used and the magazine article the late 1950s to early 60s is the most plausible. One of the metal bulb covers is missing but these can be sourced relatively easily.
This item would be great for anyone interested the early pre-history of Gaming. Please note this looks to have been constructed in the US so runs off of 120v supply.
Approximate Dimensions: 33cm wide x 15cm deep x 22cm high.
