Excalibur Kingmaster Electronic Chess Game

The Excalibur Kingmaster is an electronic chess game.  You can play chess or checkers against the computer.  My kids have been playing with this game, since they are learning how to play chess.

There is something deplorable about the design of this game.  It has 73 skill levels.  Each increase in level makes the game harder to beat, because the computer thinks for a longer period of time as you move up to each higher level.  The problem is that the game is way too difficult on level 1.  My kids are just learning chess, and there is no earthly way they could beat it on level 1.  I am a highly skilled player, and had a reasonably difficult time beating it on level 3.

This is terrible design.  I bet 99% of the players who use this device never go above level 10.  The other 63 levels are a waste.  My kids are frustrated that they can never win.  The developers of this game should have spent more time programming the lower levels, such as 1-20, to be easier to beat.  Even on level 1, the computer thinks for 1-2 seconds for each move.  Why not limit it to 1/2 second or 1/10 of a second?  Also, why not introduce some randomization elements on the lowest levels that allow the computer to occasionally make a weaker move?

Imagine going to the eye doctor, and finding that every line of the eye chart is written in letters too small to see with a telescope.  That is essentially the design of this game.