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[mfuegemann]

File Name: The Amazing Dr. Nim (E.S.R. Inc 1965)

File Submitter: mfuegemann

File Submitted: 12 Dec 2025

File Category: VPX Originals

Author(s): mfuegemann
Permission to MOD?: Yes, without approval

Hi,
 
this is a VPX recreation of the plastic toy "The Amazing Dr. Nim". I was fascinated by this toy for a long time. The moment, I stumbled over the 3d printable files, made by megardi (https://www.thingive...m/thing:3192730), I started to build a VPX version. This game does not need an additional ROM file and is best played in desktop mode.
 
Here is the wikipedia description of the game (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Nim):
 
Dr. Nim is a toy invented by John Thomas Godfrey and manufactured by E.S.R., Inc. in the mid-1960s. It consists of a marble-powered plastic computer capable of playing the game of Nim. The machine selects its moves through the action of the marbles falling through the levers of the machine.
 
Game play and construction
Dr. Nim is an early computer game. The "game board" is based on the mechanical Digi-Comp II digital computer. It has memory switches that hold bits of data. The unit is programmed by lobed levers that affect and are affected by marbles that are released from the top of the game. Three of the levers set the start position. The fourth lever is the "equaliser" option; if set, the player can win if they play perfectly. A fifth lever acts as a switch to indicate whose turn it is. The player takes a turn by pressing a button to release one marble at a time, to a maximum of three, then flips the switch and presses the button again to start the machine's turn. After the machine has played, the last released marble flips the switch back to end the turn.
 
It is possible to win, wether the player starts or Dr. Nim. Good luck.
 
The table now comes with the option to choose a 2 player gameplay. After playing 1 or 2 balls, hit the left flipper button to pass control to the other player. After ball 3 control is switched automatically.
For FS usage or to get rid of the old fashioned text boxes, You can now activate a FlexDMD display instead. For this set the Const UseFlexDMD in the script to True. If You want to move it around, the display is the flasher object named "DotMatrix" in the lower right of the playfield. Be aware, that You have to install FlexDMD before using this option.
Have fun
Michael

Click here to download this file