Our friends at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories recently made a high quality reproduction of the Digi-Comp II, a binary digital rolling-ball mechanical computer from the 1960s. (Cory wrote about it here.) Today on their blog, the Evil Mad Scientists posted about Dr. Nim, a game from the creator of the original Digi-Comp II.
Dr. NIM was designed by the same engineer, John Godfrey, who designed the Digi-Comp II, and it was manufactured in the mid-1960's by the same company, E.S.R. Inc. It is even described in the same patent as the Digi-Comp II and works in the same manner, using mechanical flip-flops triggered by marbles. Only, to play the ancient game of Nim instead of doing binary calculations.
“How can pieces of plastic be a computer?”
See also: A Do-It-Yourself Paper Digital Computer, 1959
