MAYOR OUTWITS MACHINE
Noughts And Crosses By Electronics
(New Zealand Press Association) TIMARU, Sept. 23. The Mayor of Timaru (Mr R. E. White) humbled the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research this afternoon when he outwitted an electronic computer in a game of noughts and crosses. Mr White was one of many who accepted a challenge at the South Canterbury centennial tele-com-munications exhibition to try to beat the “unbeatable” electronic "brain.”
“If you really know the finer points of the game of noughts and crosses, you’ll have to try your skill against the electronic computer,” said the printed challenge. “You’ll find you just can’t win.”
The machine had built up a steady string of successes when Mr White stepped forward to compile a triple winning X. A technician who had barely finished assuring a reporter that the machine was truly unbeatable, hastened to add that an electrical fault could perhaps upset it.
Several others were able to trick the machine—but it is hoped that minor adjustments tomorrow will help to restore its reputation.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29008, 24 September 1959, Page 12
Word Count
173MAYOR OUTWITS MACHINE Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29008, 24 September 1959, Page 12
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