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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/theTeaEnjoyer on 2024-02-23 01:22:28.

Original Title: TIL of the Mechanical Turk, a chess-playing “automaton” from the 1700s actually operated by a cleverly hidden human. It toured the palaces of Europe, even playing against Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon, who attempted to cheat multiple times, prompting the Turk to swipe all the pieces off the board.