How many of us are there?

[DaMaBu]

I can imagine it's a rare hobby, but only a few hundred in the world? Hmm.

[Larry]

And it depends on how we define a “collector”. Do three chess computers make a collection?
Probably not, but if we specify a minimum of, say six, then the number of collectors worldwide
would be in the thousands.
L

[Fernando]

I wonder if I, with my paltry collection of no more than 20 or so computers, qualify as a collector. I suspect I do not.

Poor despicable owner of some stuff regards
Fern

[Tibono2]

Hello,

I take this opportunity to indicate that even though I haven't been posting messages until now, I have been diligently reading the topics on this forum (and others) for about 2 years that I have been in the hobby.

In France I'd guess we are a few dozen collectors. Estimate based on those I know, those who have set up a website, and those I have met or spotted on classifieds sites.

Laurent

Nice to read you here Laurent, and congrats for your website! (I have been browsing it since long)
Amicalement
Eric

[Steve B]

And it depends on how we define a “collector”. Do three chess computers make a collection?
Probably not, but if we specify a minimum of, say six, then the number of collectors worldwide
would be in the thousands.
L

Well 6 is a bit thin i think to define someone as a collector
i mean if i had 6 books would i be a book collector?

ill toss out a number of a minimum of 50
someone owns 50 of anything and they are definitely collecting it

Arbitrary Number Regards
Steve

[Josef]

Exactly, I have 7 chess computers, but I don't feel like a collector.

[Bpking]

I'm new here. From the US. Recently got a Millennium King Competition board. The King has long been a favorite since the days of the PS2. I plan on getting more eboards in the future. The next one will likely be an RFID type board. So I've only begun... I don't know much about the older boards that are mentioned here.

[kalatov]

And it depends on how we define a “collector”. Do three chess computers make a collection?
Probably not, but if we specify a minimum of, say six, then the number of collectors worldwide
would be in the thousands.
L

Well 6 is a bit thin i think to define someone as a collector
i mean if i had 6 books would i be a book collector?

ill toss out a number of a minimum of 50
someone owns 50 of anything and they are definitely collecting it

Arbitrary Number Regards
Steve

Hmm, I'm not sure this is a purely numbers game. I own hundreds of books but I don't consider myself a book collector because I don't buy e.g. series of books, or ones of a certain period or genre. I only have about 20 chess computers (mainly because the ones I'm interested in cost a lot more than most books and I can't afford more), but I have chosen to focus on a particular 'genre' shall we say, and I look out for certain machines, which feels much more like how a collector works. In a way that feels more like collecting than if I bought every cheap computer on ebay just to get my numbers up.

If it does count then +1 for collectors in the UK.

Phil

[Kasparov111]

One of us in Australia…

Two mate...

[jarek]

There are are more of us, not every collector posts here - at least not on a regular basis.
Greetings from Poland - larryadler is definitely not the only one from here.

[fourthirty]

Well, here in the San Francisco Bay Area I know we have Fabrice, Aart and I. I've never spoken with anyone else locally that has an interest - which is surprising - with the concentration of tech/computer people in this area.

Regional regards,
Greg

[mclane]

Here in Germany and Netherlands we try to meet us from time to time with favourite machines.
Thats much better then online

[Mike Watters]

Well, here in the San Francisco Bay Area I know we have Fabrice, Aart and I. I've never spoken with anyone else locally that has an interest - which is surprising - with the concentration of tech/computer people in this area.

Regional regards,
Greg

Hi Greg

Well for the Bay Area you are missing a certain professor at Stanford, Maurice Ohayon, who has one of the largest chess computer collections in the world, perhaps the largest?

http://www.chesseval.com/BrandBoard/yeno.htm

Approaching 900 machines when he stopped updating his list in 2015. His last post here under his username "mrcdoc" was September 2021.

BTW I reckon Steve B's estimate of the number of collectors is in the right ballpark judged on what I see including the Sale & Swaps. Very much guesswork though.

All the best
Mike

[mclane]

You should try to connect yourself with others.
Try to reach him.

[larryadler]

There are are more of us, not every collector posts here - at least not on a regular basis.
Greetings from Poland - larryadler is definitely not the only one from here.

nice to read