From: atkinson VAXROM CERN CH Date: 26 apr 1991 Subject: Shogi mentioned in games column of "La Repubblica" In the Friday colour supplement of "La Repubblica" today, Giampaolo Dossena, in his "Tempo Libero" column, mentioned Shogi. He says there will be an article on Shogi in a future Friday issue. People interested in having addresses mentioned (FESA, postal Shogi league etc?) might like to write to: Giampaolo Dossena "La Repubblica" Piazza Cavour 1 20121 Milano Italia He also mentioned something else about Shogi, which surprised me greatly, so I phoned the number he mentioned to check the information. The person whose number it was was as surprised as I was... He says that it is possible to buy a Shogi computer from: Chess King Head Office Martin Road Corwallis Industrial Estate Maidenhead Berks. SL6 7DE (0628) 76062 fax (0628) 76067 The man at Chess King said "Er. Well, 2 or 3 years ago we DID do a Shogi computer." (This is the one mentioned in the Hodges magazines, apparently). Anyway, he says that at the moment he has put the rather punitive price of 1000 pounds on these computers, to stop people from asking him for them. (Since making one shogi computer specially is rather awkward). HOWEVER ------ he says that IF he should by some miracle get a reasonable number of orders for them, they wouldn't cost so much. I asked for an example, and he said that if 100 of these computers were ordered, he would ask 200 pounds each for them. 200 pounds is a reasonable price for a chess computer, really. It may not be very strong, but then "normal" chess computers for that money aren't up to much either. Do you think it would be possible to find 100 people all willing to pay 200 pounds for a Shogi computer? I certainly wouldn't pay 1000, but 200 seems quite reasonable. Just in case I get accused of being a mercenary, I will tell you that he also said "If you do find 100 people willing to pay 200 pounds for one of these, I will give you one free." in tones which suggested that he thinks it's impossible. If such events came to pass, I would buy one for myself and donate my free one to some worthy body like the FESA. Any comments from anyone out there? Mr Chess King said he has had no success with this machine at Consumer Electronics fairs and so on, but I think I would have predicted that. I can ALMOST believe that there might be 100 potential customers amongst all the Euro and American groups together. Adam Atkinson Rome