The history of Sargon Chess on CD-i

The original Sargon was written by Hayden Software in a Z80-based computer. The name "Sargon" was taken from either of the historical kings Sargon of Akkad or Sargon of Assyria. Sargon was introduced at the 1978 West Coast Computer Faire, where it won the first computer chess tournament held strictly for microcomputers. This success encouraged Hayden Software to seek financial income by selling the program directly to customers. The engine was updated to Sargon II (Commodore) and Sargon III, which saw releases on Commodore and Atari. in 1987, Spinnaker Software acquired Hayden Software and the Sargon license was put to use in the game "Sargon IV" on Amiga and PC. In 1991, "Sargon V" was released on PC, published by Activision, but not produced by Spinnaker. Philips teamed up with Spinnaker for a series of games to develop for CD-i, and Spinnaker used the Sargon IV engine for the CD-i release in 1990. Sargon, the Warlord who ruled the ancient world, inspired this CD-i chess program which will challenge, coach, and entertain you. Play games from novice to the most advanced chess algorithm available in Sargon V. Features 16 levels and 145,000 moves leading to 68,000 unique positions.



Interesting aspect Activision published the PC version of Sargon V, the DOS counterpart of Sargon Chess for CD-i. Spinnaker Software was not involved with this version of Activision. Philips was stock-holder of Activision right before this time, and Activision was sued by Philips/Magnavox in the same year (1991) about game patents (Philips won). No proof of a reference to this or any other game up to now, but you can imagine my interest to find out more ;)