YoYo's Fidelity Serial Number Theory

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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

spacious_mind wrote:
yoyo_chessboard wrote:i think your theory about friday is good.

i verified many and there are very few exceptions.
and i looked at very high day number 360 and 364 , and they are last friday of their respective year.

so the serial number is YDDDSSSS with SSSS resetted every week ?

i find it better than my 'modulo 10000' theory, and it makes more sense for repairing also.
if they find a quality problem at the production stage, they can identify which serials are concerned by the problem.
Yes, I think the times they did not do Friday, are maybe times when they had a production problem, part shortage or were late on a customer order etc and then shipped as soon as they could the following week. Or Friday was a day off for them that week/people shortage.

Therefore unless we find serial numbers that were created 2 or 3 times in the same week of that year, it is very much likely that Fidelity generally had one labeling and shipping day per week.

As far as I can tell especially reading about the many hats Ron Nelson had to wear, that all hands were on deck to build the computers for maybe 4 to 4.1/2 days (if you include a Saturday morning) and all hands were on deck to label, package and ship the computers out to customers every Friday unless there was a delay due to production or not being ready for a large customer order.

ps... I also think that if they built 2 or 3 models that week, then all those models became part of that Friday's labeling and shipping sequence.

Best regards
Nick
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

i have updated my spreadsheet with today's data.

here is the link:

http://www72.zippyshare.com/v/V7bcUYEc/file.html

there are now 208 8_digits serials

on 208 serials :
155 are fridays.
but in 1990/1991 i have 5 saturdays and 7 sundays
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Post by spacious_mind »

yoyo_chessboard wrote:i have updated my spreadsheet with today's data.

here is the link:

http://www72.zippyshare.com/v/V7bcUYEc/file.html

there are now 208 8_digits serials

on 208 serials :
155 are fridays.
but in 1990/1991 i have 5 saturdays and 7 sundays
Thanks, you have put a lot work into it :)

Best regards
Nick
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spacious_mind
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Post by spacious_mind »

Hi Yoyo,

Sorting your list by serial number, you can see the following:

This was a busy week;

Monday September 11th, 1989 = Voice Excellence
voice excellence 6092 92544966
Tuesday September 12th, 1989 = Phantom and Par Excellence
phantom 6100 92551354
par excellence 6083 92558977
Thursday September 14th, 1989 = EAG Day
Elite Avantgarde 2265 6114-3 92570003
Elite Avant-garde V2 6114-2 92570008
Elite Avant-garde V9 6117-9 92570010
Elite Avant-garde V5 6114-5 92570026

MULTIPLE MODEL LABELING DAYS

Friday September 23, 1988
Phantom and Designer 2100 labeled the same day.
phantom 6100 82672697
designer display 2100 6106 82675723

Friday May 20, 1988
Gambit followed by Classic followed by Gambit again on same day.
the gambit 6084 81412818
the classic 6079D 81415902
the gambit 6084 81417052

The above really does show you that the label count was based on consecutive number continuing from batch 1 to batch 2 to batch 3 etc. So it does not mean that Gambit 81417052 was the 7052'nd gambit produced.

Friday October 30th, 1987
Excel mach IIB and Par Excellence same day:
excel mach IIB 6097 73036552
par excellence 6083 73039433

Friday September 11, 1987
This one was a really busy day with different models:
the classic CC8 6079 72540966
avant-garde 2100 wooden 6088 72541690
excel mach I 6094 72542491
excel 68000 6094 72542538
excel 68000 6094 72542619
voice excellence 6092 72544312
Excellence voice 6092 72544966
Classic, AG 2100, Excel 6800 and Voice Excellence.

Friday November 14, 1986
Excellence and Par Excellence same day:
par excellence 6083 63182240
excellence 6080 63183181

Friday August 20th, 2002
Mini Sensory Chess Challenger and Chess Challenger 6:
mini sensory challenger MSC 22323494
sensory chess challenger 6 SC6 22324005

3 weeks earlier they labeled CAC Modules and Mini Sensory Chess Challenger and SCC6 see below:

Friday July 30th, 2002
sensory chess challenger 6 SC6 22115067
CAC Module CAC 22116358
CAC chess module CAC 22116940
mini sensory challenger MSC 22118249

So they built enough CAC modules to cover the next batch of Mini SCC's that they built 3 weeks later. Notice last 4 digits of MSC 3 weeks later are lower than above batch. So none of Fidelity's labels represent individual model counts.

Thursday June 4th, 2002
CB9 Catridges and CC9 (sequential)
cartridge CB9 21550497
CB9 chess module CB9 21550542
sensory chess challenger 9 SC9 21551611


Friday December 11, 2001
MSC and CC8
mini sensory challenger MSC 13453140
sensory chess challenger 8 SCC 13455102

This was a busy week where they labeled on 2 consecutive days. Notice 9399 on day 1.

Thursday November 12, 2001
mini sensory challenger MSC 13169399
Friday November 13, 2001 <---- Don't buy from this day :) bad luck..!
sensory voice CSC 13173267
mini sensory challenger MSC 13176065

Friday September 18, 2001
Mini and Dames
dames sensory challenger DSC 12610102
dames sensory challenger DSC 12610362
mini sensory challenger MSC 12611022
mini sensory challenger MSC 12614713

Mini might have been their biggest seller?

Wow with enough serial number you would be able to plot Fidelity complete production week schedules!!

Really interesting regards.....
Nick
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

there is a typo error in your message
you speak about 2001 2002
it is 1981 1982


i also saw that the labelling in not depending of teh model
in fact the labels are successive, whatever they produced each day.

there is still some problem to extract what is from 1990 and from 1991.


regards
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Post by Berger »

Wow!

This is really an exhaustive work... and a good team work!
Thank you for sharing all this info, Nick. Yoyo already has all the data that I have been able to contribute to this investigation.

Regards,
Berger
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Post by spacious_mind »

yoyo_chessboard wrote:there is a typo error in your message
you speak about 2001 2002
it is 1981 1982


i also saw that the labelling in not depending of teh model
in fact the labels are successive, whatever they produced each day.

there is still some problem to extract what is from 1990 and from 1991.


regards
Yep you are right.. my mind was on the 80's as I started but my habit of 20xx got the better of me as I went down the post :)

Yep that should be 1981 and 1982.

ps... Perhaps Steve B can fix it as I am timed out of that post to correct it. :)

Best regards
Nick
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Post by spacious_mind »

Here are some more Serials:

Fidelity Chess Challenger 8 - 02751855 - Wednesday, October 1, 1980

Image

This one seems to be the oldest listed so far. Here are the other listings:

Sensory Chess Challenger 8 - SCC 02751855 Wednesday, October 1, 1980
Sensory Chess Challenger 8 - SCC 02981881 Friday, October 24, 1980
Sensory Chess Challenger 8 - SCC 11420428 Friday, May 22, 1981
Sensory Chess Challenger 8 - SCC 12194535 Friday, August 7, 1981
Sensory Chess Challenger 8 - SCC 13455102 Friday, December 11, 1981
Chess Challenger Classic - -- SCC 20432026 Friday, February 12, 1982

The list shows a Classic as SCC for 1982 but I think that is a mistake and it should be a CC8 considering the Model # is SCC.

Mike's site shows in his Timeline shows June 1980. But so far the earliest listed CC8 is Wednesday, October 1, 1980. No June serializing identified as yet.

Production of SCC seems to have ended Friday, February 12, 1982. I would estimate that between 10,000 - 20,000 were produced based on what we see so far in a 16 (October 80) to 20 (June 80) month lifespan.

Super 9 - SU9 - 32380004 - Friday, August 26, 1983

Well it seems that this one was the 4th one produced on that Friday.

Image

Super 9 - SU9, seems to have been produced on 3 occasions:

Super 9 Chess Challenger SU9 32240073 Friday, August 12, 1983
Super 9 Chess Challenger SU9 32240896 Friday, August 12, 1983
Super 9 Chess Challenger SU9 32380004 Friday, August 26, 1983
Super 9 Chess Challenger SU9 32380703 Friday, August 26, 1983
Super 9 Chess Challenger SU9 32380772 Friday, August 26, 1983
Super 9 Chess Challenger SU9 42237651 Friday, August 10, 1984

I seem to have one of the 1st batch and one of the 2nd batch. By the look of the above (unless people share more serial #'s) I would estimate that no more than 3,000 were produced in total. Lifespan = 1 year from August 1983 to August 1984.

Silver Bullet 6087 - 61998425 - Friday, July 18, 1986

Image

Silver Bullet 6087 61575922 Friday, June 6, 1986
Silver Bullet 6087 61998425 Friday, July 18, 1986

Well without more serial numbers, it seems that Silver Bullet was produced between June and July 1986. I would estimate about 3,000 to 5,000 in total.

Elegance - 6085 - 62136736 - Friday, August 1, 1986

Image

Elegance 6085 62136736 Friday, August 1, 1986

That was the only production date listed so far. This seems to be the B Version as an earlier version is supposed to have been produced in 1984 per Mike's Timeline:

http://www.chesscomputeruk.com/html/timeline.html

Well I doubt if more then about 500-1000 were produced from the B'version.

Travelmaster - 3391 Date Code 156691 Serial - Friday, December 5, 1991

Image

This Travelmaster was produced just in time for Christmas 1991. In the 90's Fidelity had to change how it worked with it's serial numbers. You have to look at the Date Code for the date and it is revered first 3 digits = day and last digit = year. So the above Travelmaster was serialized on Friday, December 5th, 1991. Mike's timeline shows them as June 1991, therefore it is possible that there were some earlier productions but I could not find one the list.

Best regards
Nick
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

thank you for your new serial number
for the travel master with date code 3391
could it be week 33 of 91 ?
that makes last week of june 1991 , and that matches with mike's timeline
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Post by spacious_mind »

yoyo_chessboard wrote:thank you for your new serial number
for the travel master with date code 3391
could it be week 33 of 91 ?
that makes last week of june 1991 , and that matches with mike's timeline
339 is a Thursday December 5. 1991, I put down Friday yesterday which is a mistake.

Yes you are right a good possibility is also week 33. We just need a few more Travel Master date stamps to know for sure, if more than 1 production run was made.

Best regards
Nick
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Post by spacious_mind »

Hi Yoyo,

Look below:

CXG Sphinx Titan

Image

Image

http://www.spacious-mind.com/html/sphinx_titan.html

Fidelity Travel Master

Image

My guess is that Travel Master was made in the same factory as CXG Sphinx Titan maybe 5 weeks later? If so then it would be correct that the 1st two digits are the week numbers.

Notice also serial numbers:

Titan = 151395
Travel Master = 156601

Difference = 5206

So maybe in that 5 week period between week 28 (2nd Week in July, 91) and week 33 (3rd Week In August, 91) the factory produced about 5206 + chess computers. (about 1000 per week).

Look closely at the label print fonts it is identical.

The Travel Master design is not what you would typically associate with Fidelity manufacturing and TM label does show made in China, so it must be same factory as CXG Sphinx Titan.

The build quality would be there as Sphinx also built good things like CXG 3000, 3008, Sphinx 40, 50 and Commander etc.

Unfortunately for Fidelity the Travel Master was a build failure :)

So it would seem that CXG Sphinx Titan's also had manufacturing in 1991 and not just in 1986 as previously listed.

ps... The Travel Master does not have a "QA PASSED" sticker like the CXG Titan. Maybe that was the problem. NO QUALITY CHECK!! :P

Best regards
Last edited by spacious_mind on Sun Mar 26, 2017 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Mike Watters »

spacious_mind wrote:
339 is a Thursday December 5. 1991, I put down Friday yesterday which is a mistake.

Yes you are right a good possibility is also week 33. We just need a few more Travel Master date stamps to know for sure, if more than 1 production run was made.
Hi Guys

Great work unravelling the Fidelity serial number mystery !!

My two Travel Masters are -
SN 156444
SN 156618
both Date Code 3391
and I sold SN 156059 same date code.

Of course CXG SNs and date codes are likely to be a completely different format to Fidelity, and when CXG went bust another Hong Kong company took over TM production. So there should be at least two production runs. The CXG date code stickers are on most of the CXG chess computers I have and I've always assumed it is a week/year code like the chip date stamps. CXG made quite a few 'Fidelity' models from 1987 onwards apart from the Travel Master. Maybe 15?

As for the months stated in my Timeline they invariably come from published sources eg Selective Search, CSS, Hein Veldhuis's articles, etc. Sometimes they have inbuilt assumptions eg Eric Hallsworth says chess computer x will be in production and delivered in two months, say. As always its based on the most reliable info up to now.

I shall make a list of all my Fidelity serial numbers and let you have it.
Also I'll go through the Timeline and update it with the information you have unearthed. By the way I am often updating the Timeline so if anybody is working from an old printed copy it is soon out of date.

All the best
Mike
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Post by spacious_mind »

Hi Mike,

Your Travel Master date is most likely right since it comes from a CXG Sphinx factory for sure :)

Yes, please share your serials the more the better to develop a production timeline for Fidelity.

Best regards
Nick
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

hi
this one is from Ebay :
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Ajedrez-Electron ... bBZPuvsNcw

a granada cxg 247

with serial 008590 datecode: 0890

for me the datecode is :
two digits for the week two digits for the year
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Post by yoyo_chessboard »

Hi mike,

Thank you for your help in collecting serials.

but may be your deep historical knowledge could permit to solve some problems :
1990/1991 :
i have not found any way to identity what is from 1990 that what is from 1991 and i stamped them all manually on1990 for the moment.
chesster challenger serials for example are higher than kishon's , and your timeline suggest that chessster was first.

years ending by 0 : 1980 versus 1990/1991 : i identify them by the postal code on labels and of course by the model.
but didn't found any other trick using the serial.

prior to 1980

i have the same problem on the first serials prior to 8digits.
i haven't found any other logic than a pure numeric order but may be there is something to do on thats serials.

i have no particular historical knowledge and collected what i have from your website and many others, and i have opened all my boards and looked at the datecode of all the IC.
may be you can find the logic i missed.
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