Really Old
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Re: Really Old
And here I thought you were older than me, hi hi.
I've called my dad at work using a Candlestick Phone!
And before there was a dial on the new phone, we splashed for the operator, just like on the Candlestick, only now dad's phone number at work was 803, which if called from outside of the area became Kirkwood 803.
Then once the dial phones came to our town, all the phone numbers changed.
Our Home was TAylor 1 7393, Dad's Work was YOrktown 5 2460, and 61.
Ironically, my grandmother still had a crank phone on the wall, and it worked, at least up until the operators would no longer connect you, which meant we had to use a dial phone.
I had a tube type portable radio that used a 90 volt battery. Couldn't leave it on long because those batteries were expensive.
Later on I got a Transistor Radio, and did record a few songs I like on an old Wire Recorder.
For my 13th birthday, my dad bought me a VM (voice of music) professional reel to reel tape recorder.
I used it for over 20 years! Then passed it on to my son.
I think our first TV was a Philco-Ford with a tiny screen.
But as kids we still preferred listening to the big radio in the living room.
Turn off all the lights and listen to Lights Out Radio, which were horror stories, hi hi.
At least from the time I was 2 years old and up, we hand indoor toilets!
That was back when not many people did. My grandparents still had an outhouse when I was a teen.
I've called my dad at work using a Candlestick Phone!
And before there was a dial on the new phone, we splashed for the operator, just like on the Candlestick, only now dad's phone number at work was 803, which if called from outside of the area became Kirkwood 803.
Then once the dial phones came to our town, all the phone numbers changed.
Our Home was TAylor 1 7393, Dad's Work was YOrktown 5 2460, and 61.
Ironically, my grandmother still had a crank phone on the wall, and it worked, at least up until the operators would no longer connect you, which meant we had to use a dial phone.
I had a tube type portable radio that used a 90 volt battery. Couldn't leave it on long because those batteries were expensive.
Later on I got a Transistor Radio, and did record a few songs I like on an old Wire Recorder.
For my 13th birthday, my dad bought me a VM (voice of music) professional reel to reel tape recorder.
I used it for over 20 years! Then passed it on to my son.
I think our first TV was a Philco-Ford with a tiny screen.
But as kids we still preferred listening to the big radio in the living room.
Turn off all the lights and listen to Lights Out Radio, which were horror stories, hi hi.
At least from the time I was 2 years old and up, we hand indoor toilets!
That was back when not many people did. My grandparents still had an outhouse when I was a teen.
Re: Really Old
I'm pretty sure that I AM older than you; born in 1944. I never had an opportunity to use one of those candlestick phones. In fact my family didn't have a phone at all until I was nearly a teenager. My grandpa lived next door to us and we would go there for any phone calls that had to be done. The first phone I recall there was a wall mount without a dial. It had a slot to accept coins which is how you got the operator's attention. Drop a nickle into the slot, some funny noises emanated from the box, and then a woman's voice would say, "Number Please." We'd then recite the number and she would connect us unless it was a long distance call. I'm pretty sure any call outside the city was considered long distance and we had to request a special operator to make that connection. And, of course, periodically a person from the phone company would come by and empty the coin box. Eventually the box acquired a dial, but the coins still had to be inserted at first. Many times during a call a voice would interrupt and announce "Deposite 25 cents for the next three minutes please," or something like that. When that wall box disappeared altogether, the traditional black desktop phone took its place. That was a two party phone and I recall a few times listening in to whoever was talking until they sensed my presence and told me where to go. LOL Eventually we got our own black desktop phone and stopped going to grandpa's. It was a TUxedo 9-xxxx number until dial tones came to our area. Then it switch to NAtional 2-5636 -- I'm pretty sure that is correct, but maybe not. It was hundreds of years ago.
Likewise, we were the last family on the block to get a television. It was a Senora and something like an 8 or 10 inch round screen. The box it was in was huge and generated a lot of heat. Weird as it might seem, I remember the first television show I ever watched on our own set: The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican. I just looked and apparently there are some old copies of it on YouTube. Mom was into soap operas on the radio and a few come over to television. I recall her being grossly disappointed that the characters didn't match what she had imagined them to look like. I could say the same for The Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy, two of my favorites on the radio. And, I recall the Lights Out broadcasts. There was one equally strange called Inner Sanctum. Unfortunately I didn't get to listen to those very often because mom and dad didn't approve. They preferred the likes of Author Godfrey and His Friends. All I recall about him is that he hawked Lipton Tea and brewed a cup at least once during every show.
And, I too had a tube radio in a wooden box that resembled a small suitcase. It had 45 volt batteries. I recall that because they were very difficult to get. Only one place I knew of sold them. The suitcase was needed for the batteries. Although the radio was tube type, it didn't take up nearly as much room or weight as the batteries. And, also, I think I told you this before, my uncle worked for a company called Webster Chicago. He had a lot to do with the engineering of the wire recorders they made. He gave me one of the prototypes that never went into production and about a 5000 foot long spool of recording wire to go with it. That was an amazing device to be sure.
Likewise, we were the last family on the block to get a television. It was a Senora and something like an 8 or 10 inch round screen. The box it was in was huge and generated a lot of heat. Weird as it might seem, I remember the first television show I ever watched on our own set: The Adventures of Paddy the Pelican. I just looked and apparently there are some old copies of it on YouTube. Mom was into soap operas on the radio and a few come over to television. I recall her being grossly disappointed that the characters didn't match what she had imagined them to look like. I could say the same for The Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy, two of my favorites on the radio. And, I recall the Lights Out broadcasts. There was one equally strange called Inner Sanctum. Unfortunately I didn't get to listen to those very often because mom and dad didn't approve. They preferred the likes of Author Godfrey and His Friends. All I recall about him is that he hawked Lipton Tea and brewed a cup at least once during every show.
And, I too had a tube radio in a wooden box that resembled a small suitcase. It had 45 volt batteries. I recall that because they were very difficult to get. Only one place I knew of sold them. The suitcase was needed for the batteries. Although the radio was tube type, it didn't take up nearly as much room or weight as the batteries. And, also, I think I told you this before, my uncle worked for a company called Webster Chicago. He had a lot to do with the engineering of the wire recorders they made. He gave me one of the prototypes that never went into production and about a 5000 foot long spool of recording wire to go with it. That was an amazing device to be sure.
Re: Really Old
Ditto.
I have to admit, I kept installed a rotary phone until Telmex replaced my copper fixed connection to fiber a couple of years ago. That modem didn't support pulse phones. Had to replace it with a tone button unit. As of the rest, I still have around some cassettes, and don't see the use of taking photos of food other than bragging.
Re: Really Old
I have some old cassettes but nothing to play them on. They are so old in fact that I doubt that they could be played. I'm sure the tape is brittle and the magnetic material ready to flake off. Some of these tapes are of relatives long gone and it would be nice if they could be recovered. I confess to taking pictures of food I have prepared. And, yes, I was bragging. LOL My daughter loves to bake gourmet cakes. She sends pictures of her creations from time to time. I suppose the notion of taking food pictures is a bit silly, but it was never so easy to do it as it is now with smartphones.
Re: Really Old
It also happened to me, once, I wanted to check a walkman, the cassette player didn't work. When opening it the player transmission bands were already melted. Then I began to check other cassette players I had around. There was no one whose transmission bands were not aged beyond repair. It may need a trip to the Sony parts shop in Salvador 24 to get the bands, an also to some of the nearby stores to get the parts to refurbish some of the rest.
Re: Really Old
Our first telephone with a dial was super heavy, I think that sucker was made of cast iron, hi hi.
It looked weird too, not like the ones you see in all the pictures of old phones.
Then when the plastic ones came out, the numbers were on the outside of the dial on a wide disk.
We had two pay phones in the break room at the greenhouses. With 250 employee's, the phone company gladly installed and maintained them, and put two new phone books under each one every year.
Since I didn't watch much TV, still don't, I couldn't tell you what was on that my parents watched at night.
At least not until several years later when he bought the big Motorola TV.
Now that is one TV that got over 50 years of use, not always as a TV though, hi hi.
That metal cabinet was perfect for making a sand blasting cabinet from.
I still had it when we had our auction in 2001!
After dad got another new TV he gave it to my mom's dad, who passed it to my uncle, who passed it on to me.
A few new tubes, and a sheet of plastic film that was tinted blue at the top, orange in the middle, and green at the bottom, gave it new life for a few more years. Then I finally got a color TV and relegated this old Motorola to the garage.
I didn't convert it to a sand blasting cabinet until I lived in the big house with the heated garage, around 1982.
I've had many cassette players that quit because the belts dry-rotted. On a few of them, I could replace the belt with a three or four O-rings side by side, but on a few other I had to make a belt using slices from old inner tubes. I think the inner tube belts outlasted the original belts, hi hi.
OK, now you can laugh. I had a mechanical telephone dialer. It had a large plastic sheet inside that you used magnetic pencil to blacken the squares for the number you wanted it to dial. It took like four D size batteries to make it run. You moved a slider to the name you wanted, then hit the button and it would run and dial the number. Worked pretty good for such a crude device.
It looked weird too, not like the ones you see in all the pictures of old phones.
Then when the plastic ones came out, the numbers were on the outside of the dial on a wide disk.
We had two pay phones in the break room at the greenhouses. With 250 employee's, the phone company gladly installed and maintained them, and put two new phone books under each one every year.
Since I didn't watch much TV, still don't, I couldn't tell you what was on that my parents watched at night.
At least not until several years later when he bought the big Motorola TV.
Now that is one TV that got over 50 years of use, not always as a TV though, hi hi.
That metal cabinet was perfect for making a sand blasting cabinet from.
I still had it when we had our auction in 2001!
After dad got another new TV he gave it to my mom's dad, who passed it to my uncle, who passed it on to me.
A few new tubes, and a sheet of plastic film that was tinted blue at the top, orange in the middle, and green at the bottom, gave it new life for a few more years. Then I finally got a color TV and relegated this old Motorola to the garage.
I didn't convert it to a sand blasting cabinet until I lived in the big house with the heated garage, around 1982.
I've had many cassette players that quit because the belts dry-rotted. On a few of them, I could replace the belt with a three or four O-rings side by side, but on a few other I had to make a belt using slices from old inner tubes. I think the inner tube belts outlasted the original belts, hi hi.
OK, now you can laugh. I had a mechanical telephone dialer. It had a large plastic sheet inside that you used magnetic pencil to blacken the squares for the number you wanted it to dial. It took like four D size batteries to make it run. You moved a slider to the name you wanted, then hit the button and it would run and dial the number. Worked pretty good for such a crude device.
Re: Really Old
Indeed those old black desktop phones were heavy. I don't know about the originals, but many years after that a heavy metal plate was installed for the bottom of the phone. This was done deliberately to make it feel good and not slide around the desktop easily. When plastic phones became popular they did the same thing with handsets. Now and days a heavy handset would never be used.
You made a very interesting comment about "color" television. My uncle, the one who worked at Webster Chicago, came by one day and said he invented color television that could be installed in a matter of minutes. We were shocked and awed at the prospect, but what he did was exactly what you described. He put a thin film of tinted plastic over the CRT. I don't recall if he claimed to have invented it, but I do recall being disappointed. LOL
I can't say that I ever ran across a mechanical phone dialer. I'm not surprised to learn that you had one, however. You are one of the more creative people I know.
You made a very interesting comment about "color" television. My uncle, the one who worked at Webster Chicago, came by one day and said he invented color television that could be installed in a matter of minutes. We were shocked and awed at the prospect, but what he did was exactly what you described. He put a thin film of tinted plastic over the CRT. I don't recall if he claimed to have invented it, but I do recall being disappointed. LOL
I can't say that I ever ran across a mechanical phone dialer. I'm not surprised to learn that you had one, however. You are one of the more creative people I know.
Re: Really Old
If I recall, that auto-dialer came from Allied Electronics, through Walter Ashe stores, which later became Radio Shack. They were fairly cheap and probably only sold around Christmas time. Then too, it could have come from a gaming company, we had tons of mechanical games back in the day. Probably all imported from Japan or China. I had one that actually worked like Pong, but the inside looked more like an etch-a-sketch mechanism that made the ball go back and forth.
Heck, you may remember some of those old mechanical games, hi hi.
Heck, you may remember some of those old mechanical games, hi hi.
Re: Really Old
By the time I got really into telecommunications DTMF tones were the norm for dialing. Those could easily be recorded, or generated, into an automatic dialer. In fact that is exactly what they did with those phones which have memory and can call somebody at the push of a single button. My clever phone goes one step farther. All I have to do is speak to it, "Hey Google, call Gary" and voila!
Aside from the Pachinko game, I recall owning only one mechanical game similar to what you described. It was a wooden box with a maze on one of it's sides. That side floated and was manipulated by two knobs so that you could walk a steel ball through the maze. There were holes in the maze at strategic spots and the idea was to be able to navigate to the end, which was very difficult but not impossible. It too worked much like the Etch-A-Sketch inside the box. I loved the game and played with it well into adulthood. Not sure what happened to it, but it's gone now.
It was something like this here ==> https://www.mindware.orientaltrading.co ... NwQAvD_BwE
Aside from the Pachinko game, I recall owning only one mechanical game similar to what you described. It was a wooden box with a maze on one of it's sides. That side floated and was manipulated by two knobs so that you could walk a steel ball through the maze. There were holes in the maze at strategic spots and the idea was to be able to navigate to the end, which was very difficult but not impossible. It too worked much like the Etch-A-Sketch inside the box. I loved the game and played with it well into adulthood. Not sure what happened to it, but it's gone now.
It was something like this here ==> https://www.mindware.orientaltrading.co ... NwQAvD_BwE
Re: Really Old
I had a labyrinth also.
But the games I was talking about were small handheld games in a plastic housing.
But the worked mechanically, with batteries, no electronics.
I found a video of the type of games I was talking about.
If you jump up to the 14 minute mark you will find the 2-player Blip game, and near the end is the dumb bowling game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwQMBV7Td1s
But the games I was talking about were small handheld games in a plastic housing.
But the worked mechanically, with batteries, no electronics.
I found a video of the type of games I was talking about.
If you jump up to the 14 minute mark you will find the 2-player Blip game, and near the end is the dumb bowling game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwQMBV7Td1s
Re: Really Old
I may have seen those hand held games, but I don't recall ever owning one. The only popular hand held game I did own was a Gameboy, which I sold to some fellow in Canada a couple years ago. I don't know what that old game was worth but he was more than happy to pay my asking price. It was something in the area of $25 and had about 7-8 cartridge games to go with it. It worked just fine and had very little wear. But, that Gameboy was all electronic, which is a different class of game than Blip.
Re: Really Old
You can laugh, but I cannot remember a time when we did not have a rack of handheld games next to the toilet, hi hi.
In early years there were clipboards with puzzle books.
Currently we have Solitaire, Black Jack, Draw Poker, and Sudoku handhelds.
I told you how I gave the Solitaire buttons new life previously.
ALL of the games are RIGGED by the manufacturers, especially those made by Radica.
They are nothing even close to real life. The Black Jack game once you get up close to 1000 points changes algorithms and only gets 20, 21, or Black Jack for like 20 hands in a row, or until the score is back down below 700.
And if you get down below 100 it won't let you lose, even if you try to, so it will reset back to 500 points.
Draw Poker is pretty much the same way. Solitaire not so much since it doesn't keep a total score.
Sudoku only tells you how long it took you to play a game, and stops counting if the game shuts off because you left it.
I like this particular Sudoku game because it lets you add the possibilities quite easily, and the way I like to do them too.
Even so, I still prefer playing Sudoku from booklets that are higher levels of hardness. Like level 8 or 9.
I do Sudoku and crosswords in bed at night to help me fall asleep.
In early years there were clipboards with puzzle books.
Currently we have Solitaire, Black Jack, Draw Poker, and Sudoku handhelds.
I told you how I gave the Solitaire buttons new life previously.
ALL of the games are RIGGED by the manufacturers, especially those made by Radica.
They are nothing even close to real life. The Black Jack game once you get up close to 1000 points changes algorithms and only gets 20, 21, or Black Jack for like 20 hands in a row, or until the score is back down below 700.
And if you get down below 100 it won't let you lose, even if you try to, so it will reset back to 500 points.
Draw Poker is pretty much the same way. Solitaire not so much since it doesn't keep a total score.
Sudoku only tells you how long it took you to play a game, and stops counting if the game shuts off because you left it.
I like this particular Sudoku game because it lets you add the possibilities quite easily, and the way I like to do them too.
Even so, I still prefer playing Sudoku from booklets that are higher levels of hardness. Like level 8 or 9.
I do Sudoku and crosswords in bed at night to help me fall asleep.
Re: Really Old
The throne room is the ideal environment for hand held games. I've always kept reading material in that room. Generally the books were trivia, or the Farmers Almanac type thing. That would alternate with Dell Puzzle magazines. They had a variety of puzzles in that magazine but I enjoyed the crosswords the most. At one time I tried my hand at Suduko, but it didn't take long for me to abandon the idea. It was way too much work and so little satisfaction for my taste.
Most digital games are indeed rigged out of necessity. Computers, as you certainly must know by now, are pretty stupid. They can be defeated quite easily because they have no intrinsic intelligence nor intuition like us humans use to solve puzzles. Thus, the only way the computer can "win" against a human is to cheat. The game itself does not cheat, but does cause the human to make errors and thereby degrade the scores.
I've talked about my pool simulation game before, but it's worth a mention again here. Each player, both the human type and the digital type, are ranked. The higher your rank the harder they are to beat. The lowest I've seen was somewhere around 950 and the highest rank is near 2100. There are 5 or 6 groups of players with corresponding levels of difficulty. None of the ratings for those players fall below their group's window nor do they rise above it. I've been playing this simulation for more than ten years and have never achieved a rank higher than 1900, nor less than 1350; it depends on the particular game. I can see how it all happens because I make every shot with those low ranked players and only make about 50% when playing the higher ranks. I'm the same guy playing all those levels. Why would my skill change across categories? The answer is that you would lose interest if you beat the dumb computer at it's own game.
Most digital games are indeed rigged out of necessity. Computers, as you certainly must know by now, are pretty stupid. They can be defeated quite easily because they have no intrinsic intelligence nor intuition like us humans use to solve puzzles. Thus, the only way the computer can "win" against a human is to cheat. The game itself does not cheat, but does cause the human to make errors and thereby degrade the scores.
I've talked about my pool simulation game before, but it's worth a mention again here. Each player, both the human type and the digital type, are ranked. The higher your rank the harder they are to beat. The lowest I've seen was somewhere around 950 and the highest rank is near 2100. There are 5 or 6 groups of players with corresponding levels of difficulty. None of the ratings for those players fall below their group's window nor do they rise above it. I've been playing this simulation for more than ten years and have never achieved a rank higher than 1900, nor less than 1350; it depends on the particular game. I can see how it all happens because I make every shot with those low ranked players and only make about 50% when playing the higher ranks. I'm the same guy playing all those levels. Why would my skill change across categories? The answer is that you would lose interest if you beat the dumb computer at it's own game.
Re: Really Old
I have a certain methodology I use to play Sudoku, but on the really hard ones, there is some guesswork involved that sometimes leads you down the wrong path.
Don't forget, I used to work on gaming machines. Despite the government sealed random generator, what is done with those numbers before being displayed allows for all kinds of manipulation.
But as far as these hand held games, they are programmed to win by cheating. Just like the on-line casino's.
Eons ago, I used to play Chess. Belonged to the Maplewood/Richmond Heights Chess Club too.
Most of the guys I played against had memorized nearly every move from the books in their head, so they were nearly impossible to beat. But you could confuse them for a while by making a move they didn't expect, which is what became my edge.
In later years, I had a few computer chess games, most of which I could beat so I would buy an even harder game.
Finally got up to where I could not beat the computer at all, hi hi.
But when it comes to gambling games, especially where you cannot see the cards until they are dealt.
The computers cheat by always beating what you have, and/or tossing you a high card unexpectedly.
I actually filled a small notebook with all the hands played on the blackjack handheld game.
As I said, if you are above lets says 750 points, the dealer always has 20, 21, or BJ, and you always have a low hand or bust if you draw.
I went with my dad to a real casino many times and we played BJ together. Dad was pretty good at it too.
The dealer dealt real cards from a 5 or 7 deck shoe. Yes the odds are for the house of course, but there's no cheating.
After enough hands you can see the game is fair, and the dealer busts just about as often as the players.
But you get into a game where they are using electronic cards, and you can see a big difference in how the cards fall.
And if you get into an on-line casino, you'll see the odds are unreal, not even close to how a real game with real cards plays out.
I did get roped into a game of Texas Hold-em in an online game.
I kept close track of how the odds were going while I played with the free tokens.
I was good enough, it took me over an hour to eventually lose all of my free tokens.
Then I bought a rack of chips, and in under 10 minutes I went through the entire rack of chips.
The dealers hand was always higher than all the players hands, except they would let one player win each deal.
A couple of times they let two players win a round. But most of the time only one player.
And the odds of that same player winning more than once was much higher than any other player winning more than once.
Probably a fake house player to make it look like someone was winning big.
Don't forget, I used to work on gaming machines. Despite the government sealed random generator, what is done with those numbers before being displayed allows for all kinds of manipulation.
But as far as these hand held games, they are programmed to win by cheating. Just like the on-line casino's.
Eons ago, I used to play Chess. Belonged to the Maplewood/Richmond Heights Chess Club too.
Most of the guys I played against had memorized nearly every move from the books in their head, so they were nearly impossible to beat. But you could confuse them for a while by making a move they didn't expect, which is what became my edge.
In later years, I had a few computer chess games, most of which I could beat so I would buy an even harder game.
Finally got up to where I could not beat the computer at all, hi hi.
But when it comes to gambling games, especially where you cannot see the cards until they are dealt.
The computers cheat by always beating what you have, and/or tossing you a high card unexpectedly.
I actually filled a small notebook with all the hands played on the blackjack handheld game.
As I said, if you are above lets says 750 points, the dealer always has 20, 21, or BJ, and you always have a low hand or bust if you draw.
I went with my dad to a real casino many times and we played BJ together. Dad was pretty good at it too.
The dealer dealt real cards from a 5 or 7 deck shoe. Yes the odds are for the house of course, but there's no cheating.
After enough hands you can see the game is fair, and the dealer busts just about as often as the players.
But you get into a game where they are using electronic cards, and you can see a big difference in how the cards fall.
And if you get into an on-line casino, you'll see the odds are unreal, not even close to how a real game with real cards plays out.
I did get roped into a game of Texas Hold-em in an online game.
I kept close track of how the odds were going while I played with the free tokens.
I was good enough, it took me over an hour to eventually lose all of my free tokens.
Then I bought a rack of chips, and in under 10 minutes I went through the entire rack of chips.
The dealers hand was always higher than all the players hands, except they would let one player win each deal.
A couple of times they let two players win a round. But most of the time only one player.
And the odds of that same player winning more than once was much higher than any other player winning more than once.
Probably a fake house player to make it look like someone was winning big.
Re: Really Old
Most games are predictable and thereby lend themselves to (linear) programming techniques. The variables are not random even if the game is honest. That's because the random number generator is only pseudo-random. It's based on a seed that should be a prime number, but that's not always the case in gaming machines. Even so, it would still be difficult to predict even if they didn't manipulate the data after the random number was generated. Most people who gamble don't know what goes on in those electronic machines. The pros do know and take a different tack. They are there for the enjoyment and don't expect to beat the house. LOL Well, few pros actually gamble for the fun of it, but they are way more informed about how it all works than is the general public.
Chess is one of those games that can easily be programmed because the rules are simple and few. However, a serious chess player knows the game is about strategy and not simply moving pieces in random fashion. That's why those tournament players memorize the classic games. Each game demonstrates the effectiveness of a particular strategy. Computers can deal with strategy up to a point. The greatest unknown is the response from the human player. Chess games have a pretty good idea of how to react to a given move from the opponent, but they cannot see the strategic importance. They can see three or four moves ahead, but sometimes that's not enough. I'm pretty sure that is how they determine the difficulty of computer chess players, i.e., by the number of moves ahead it takes into consideration. Now and days there is such a thing as artificial intelligence and machine learning. A chess game that uses that cannot be beat after a certain number of games. Once it has a profile of how a given player reacts, there is no way to beat the machine. It knows what you will do before you know.
Chess is one of those games that can easily be programmed because the rules are simple and few. However, a serious chess player knows the game is about strategy and not simply moving pieces in random fashion. That's why those tournament players memorize the classic games. Each game demonstrates the effectiveness of a particular strategy. Computers can deal with strategy up to a point. The greatest unknown is the response from the human player. Chess games have a pretty good idea of how to react to a given move from the opponent, but they cannot see the strategic importance. They can see three or four moves ahead, but sometimes that's not enough. I'm pretty sure that is how they determine the difficulty of computer chess players, i.e., by the number of moves ahead it takes into consideration. Now and days there is such a thing as artificial intelligence and machine learning. A chess game that uses that cannot be beat after a certain number of games. Once it has a profile of how a given player reacts, there is no way to beat the machine. It knows what you will do before you know.
Re: Really Old
I'm not much of a gambler, but my dad loved the casino's, probably got that from my brother who is a crazy wild gambler, hi hi.
When I used to go to the casino with him, I would play the old slots until I made enough money to go play on the tables.
The odds of me winning enough to put my original amount back in my pocket, and only play the tables with money I won was about 3 out of 4 visits. If I lost what I intended to spend on the slots, then I didn't play the tables that day and just sat and watched dad.
I would say after about 2 years of going with him to the casino, he was never ahead or behind, I would say he held his own.
I was down around 250 bucks is all after 2 years of going with him.
But then when my wife and I went on a cruise, I added enough money to my on-board account for the casino, so that I could lose no more than 100 bucks per day. I could play all day before I ended up losing, but in the end still had like 300 bucks left I had dedicated to losing. So, if I look at it that way, yes I paid for entertainment, but it didn't cost me what I planned on losing, hi hi.
There was a fad that started near the end of my time in the Chess Club called speed chess.
It was designed to keep folks from spending 10 minutes thinking about their next move.
In the beginning it was a 3 minute timer, then they shorted it to 1 minute, and I think not long after that down to 30 seconds.
Those who played it had most of the strategies memorized so knew what moves were required.
Sorta like memorizing all the songs we played so we didn't need to look at the sheet music.
After a while there is nothing more to learn and it becomes like playing tic tac toe, hi hi.
Of course now they have come out with different 3D versions of chess which I don't even understand at all.
When I used to go to the casino with him, I would play the old slots until I made enough money to go play on the tables.
The odds of me winning enough to put my original amount back in my pocket, and only play the tables with money I won was about 3 out of 4 visits. If I lost what I intended to spend on the slots, then I didn't play the tables that day and just sat and watched dad.
I would say after about 2 years of going with him to the casino, he was never ahead or behind, I would say he held his own.
I was down around 250 bucks is all after 2 years of going with him.
But then when my wife and I went on a cruise, I added enough money to my on-board account for the casino, so that I could lose no more than 100 bucks per day. I could play all day before I ended up losing, but in the end still had like 300 bucks left I had dedicated to losing. So, if I look at it that way, yes I paid for entertainment, but it didn't cost me what I planned on losing, hi hi.
There was a fad that started near the end of my time in the Chess Club called speed chess.
It was designed to keep folks from spending 10 minutes thinking about their next move.
In the beginning it was a 3 minute timer, then they shorted it to 1 minute, and I think not long after that down to 30 seconds.
Those who played it had most of the strategies memorized so knew what moves were required.
Sorta like memorizing all the songs we played so we didn't need to look at the sheet music.
After a while there is nothing more to learn and it becomes like playing tic tac toe, hi hi.
Of course now they have come out with different 3D versions of chess which I don't even understand at all.
Re: Really Old
In a pure sense gambling is random. That means after a certain amount of time you always break even. People who run casinos can't exist with those kind of odds, and thus the need to manipulate the outcome of the games arose. I had a cousin who was a self proclaimed gambler. He liked betting on horses because the thought that was the most difficult game in town to rig. It must be true because the race tracks get their profit from taking a cut of all the winnings they pay out. After a few years of studying the horse race game, my cousin claimed to have a sure win system worked out. He said he was able to assure a 1% - 1.5% profit over the long term. I think it was a year or two. He never explained the system to me because one requirement at the time was a $100k bank account. He didn't have that kind of money but he was able to do the math. Back then I could easily get 5% return in any S&L savings account so that I didn't need to educate myself in horse racing. LOL The point was he claimed he found a way to consistently be profitable at gambling.
I was a team member of the Motorola Industrial Chess Club. The team consisted of ten regular players who traveled to other companies in the league to play chess tournament style. I went to every match, but I was team member #11. Somebody had to be a no-show in order for me to play for official ranking. I lost about half the games I did manage to play, but I met a lot of interesting people. We met every week but only played the tournament once a month. Those off weeks we played against each other and one of the exercises was a speed chess game. I think you are right about 30 seconds being the limit. Now that I think about it, I believe it was ten minutes. You could take as long as you wanted but you only had ten minutes of clock time to do it. If the game was not won outright before somebody's 10 minutes expired, the captured pieces were counted to determine who won the game. Each piece had a different value so that one queen captured would outrank 8 pawns. LOL
The president of the club was a Russian dude with an official rank approaching that of a master. In other words, he was at least ten times better than I was. One day at one of those practice sessions he and I played a game and I managed to get a draw from him. That's how I became a team member. The truth be told I was sweating bullets during the entire game. He was making his moves while reading a newspaper and drinking coffee. Still, a draw was a feather in my cap.
I was a team member of the Motorola Industrial Chess Club. The team consisted of ten regular players who traveled to other companies in the league to play chess tournament style. I went to every match, but I was team member #11. Somebody had to be a no-show in order for me to play for official ranking. I lost about half the games I did manage to play, but I met a lot of interesting people. We met every week but only played the tournament once a month. Those off weeks we played against each other and one of the exercises was a speed chess game. I think you are right about 30 seconds being the limit. Now that I think about it, I believe it was ten minutes. You could take as long as you wanted but you only had ten minutes of clock time to do it. If the game was not won outright before somebody's 10 minutes expired, the captured pieces were counted to determine who won the game. Each piece had a different value so that one queen captured would outrank 8 pawns. LOL
The president of the club was a Russian dude with an official rank approaching that of a master. In other words, he was at least ten times better than I was. One day at one of those practice sessions he and I played a game and I managed to get a draw from him. That's how I became a team member. The truth be told I was sweating bullets during the entire game. He was making his moves while reading a newspaper and drinking coffee. Still, a draw was a feather in my cap.
Re: Really Old
Once I was giving a tour on the University to a freshman. We went to the sports activities offices and there were a few couples playing chess, and this freshman became interested after a brief chat with the guy overseeing the players, so the overseer talked us to play a game with me on a side and the freshman being aided by the overseer on the other. The overseer explained the moves I was doing and was telling him how could he answer, so I just kept quiet while playing. Somehow after a while I was able to get a pawn to be crowned without the pair in front of me foreseeing it, so I managed to win that game... That's the feather in my cap and it was entertaining after all.
Re: Really Old
That's a great story Juan. It often happened to me as well where I was concentrating on an obvious attack (or defense) and missed the obvious power play by my opponent.