An interlude: Colossus

“A long, long time ago, quite possibly before you were born,
there were no computers. Which is to say there were computers, but
they were large, lunking things that took up entire rooms, made a
lot of noise and demanded specific temperature ranges. It wasn’t
something you could go out to your local thrift store and buy. It
was something your company or your university or your nation’s
military bought and used for serious things, like processing
payrolls.

“In those days, people didn’t play Mario Kart or World of
Warcraft for entertainment. Instead they relied on games made out
of paper and cardboard, that came packaged in cardboard boxes, with
rules printed — with ink on a press, not a laser printer
— in long and boring sheets. You might hear your grandparents
talking about those days, and not just in reference to the first
edition of Dungeons and Dragons. I mean games like Air War. And
Dune. And Steve Jackson’s Illuminati. And of course, Star Fleet
Battles.”

Complete
Story