The Fidelity Chess Challenger Poppy is one of Fidelity’s weirder offerings. A Sensory 8 pcb and 64 led sensor board in a Sensory 6 housing with the board and pieces finished in shocking red and white. To top it off the Poppy sticker on the backboard covers up a space where theSensory 6 display would normally be.

The Poppy first dazzled the public at the 1983 Nuremberg Toy Fair. Apparently it later made an appearance in a Bremen Department Store not only in red and white, but with further examples in blue + red and green + blue !! These are thought to have been prototypes or publicity mock-ups rather than  machines for sale. Other bright colours were also  used for publicity purposes eg yellow + green.

The intention was to attract children to chess. The outcome as you might guess was failure, with few sold. It is hard to say how many Poppys survive but they border on the very rare.