NIMROD was a computer built for the Festival of Britain in 1951, and it had only one purpose: To play Nim. Later in the same year it was an exhibit at the Berliner Industrieausstellung, the German minister of economy Ludwig Erhard played against it and lost every time. A replica of NIMROD has now been built for the new Berlin museum of computer games.
NIMROD is older than A. L. Samuel’s Checkers program, and it was a far bigger project (a dedicated computer vs. a program running on an IBM 701), but it seems to be less known. Guess the role of the UK in the history of computer games, and computing in general, is still underestimated quite a bit.
It's 1951...
and the Festival of Britain opens its doors.
One of the many venues of the Festival — which extends across much of Britain — is the Exhibition of Science in South Kensington.
Here, amongst other wonders, you will see the Ferranti NIMROD.
This is the first digital computer designed specifically to play a game — truly the very first "Computer Game"... In the process, it illuminates principles of binary arithmetic and digital logic.
So, leave Lara Croft and her friends behind for a while, and journey back to the years BT (Before Transistors), where just to see a computer is an adventure, and to actually control it is the ultimate thrill!
Welcome to... NIMROD!
For the adventurous souls out there you can challenge Nimrod here:
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http://www.goodeveca.net/nimrod/GAME/index.html
And for a plethora of information :
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http://www.goodeveca.net/nimrod/
