OXO

The early 50's were a watershed for video game development. After the rampant popularity of NIM came OXO. Odd how the engineers and scientists of the day seemed to be insistant on making ccomputers approachable by coming up with the shortest names possible for their creations.

OXO, as you can guess, was a simple tic tac toe game. Programmed on the EDSAC computer: Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, by Alexander S. (Sandy) Douglas. It differs from NIM in that it displays the game as its being played on a tiny screen inches across. NIM simply flashed lights in patterns which were interpretted by the players.

EDSAC was originally made in 1949 for the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory. The machine was there for the exclusive use of the mathematical department and turned out to be the first of two versions. EDSAC 2 came out in 1958. It's fine pedigree lived on as the LEO 1, the world's first commercially avialble business computer that was based almost solely on the EDSAC design.