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Subject: Collector's Corner..What's in a name?

Author: Steve B

Date: 06:48:42 09/10/04


One of the nuances to chess computer collecting today  is to try to learn which
computers are really exactly the same although the manufacturer or name is
completely different

a few examples will illustrate the point:

the Mephisto Milano(released in 1991 with an Ed Schroder program and rated about
1975 Elo) was also released by Mephisto under the name"Nigel Short" to take
advantage of Short's then stature in world chess competition  and his impending
match for the world title against Kasparov.
the Nigel short was released primarily for the UK market and is considered a
collector's item today ,while the Milano is not.

another example would be the "Phantom" released by Milton Bradley in 1983
depending on the market in which it was sold,this Robotic(self-moving) computer
was released under the following names:

MB Grandmaster-North American Market
MB Phantom-UK market
MB Milton-German Market(and some other European countries)
each computer is identical
the MB Phantom is considered to be the rarest of the three and the most sort
after by collectors today.

then there are the cases where the same exact computer is released under
different manufacturers or "Badges" as the term is used in collecting

Examples of this would be Radio SHACK  which sells mainly Saitek computers
or for an older example..Conic,Hanimex and Schneider which all sold the same
exact computers under their own "Badge"



Name Dropper Regards
Steve






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