![]() Today, we are spoiled with a catalogue of games to keep us drooling over the next great release. Although most of the UK (including myself) were ignorant and still arguing over Monopoly or Pictionary every Christmas. As well as some weird games that were probably rubbish but I have fond memories of, such as Haunted House (with the glow-in-the-dark skull) and Go For Broke!īy the 1980s Euro games were just starting to gain momentum. Seriously though, in the 1970s Othello had to compete with the usual suspects: Monopoly, Cluedo, Scrabble, Guess Who, Battleships, and Game of Life. If it's cool enough for them in the noughties it's certainly a game to be considered! Final Thoughts on OthelloĬan Othello keep pace in the 21st century? It's a completely fabricated fact that the band Blazin' Squad used Othello as the inspiration for their song 'Flip Reverse'. However, it offsets this by having a green baize-like playing board with ridges in the grid to stop the discs slip sliding around whilst flipping them over, a definite improvement on the flat boards of times gone by. My modern game doesn't have the covers to stop the discs from exiting their containers and jiggling around the box. They have this gentle undulation so they just feel nice in the fingers. The discs are satisfying as playing pieces. Game time is around 15 minutes and you'll be flipping more discs than you do pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. A bit like playing chess, games can be slightly one-sided. You can be hugely disadvantaged if you don't have the strategy or moves to give you a better chance of winning. Most players soon realise the importance of edges and corners to dictate a game, but further tactics and the general ebb and flow makes the game enjoyable. For the slightly more advanced player there is enough strategy behind it to make you consider your moves. I hasten to add that despite the age range this isn't just a game for the younger players. If you're looking for a game with a level playing field regardless of ability there are other games that do this much better. Even if all the discs will be turned straight back over on the next turn. Although the younger players tend to go for the strategy of how many discs can be flipped in one turn. That hopefully gives you plenty of life to master it! My 10-year-old particularly loves it, and my eight-year-old certainly enjoys it too. The box says seven years plus, and that's spot on. I still haven't mastered it though! Apparently, I only will just before I'm dead! I assume it will go something like: How did Nick die? He finally mastered Othello and he just keeled over. I can teach someone who's never played the game how to very quickly, but frankly, it's unlikely they'll beat me on their first go. Having played Othello for over two and a half decades I can state confidently that the game's strapline of, 'A minute to learn… a lifetime to master!' is surprisingly accurate. The winner is the player that wipes out the opponent's colour, or more likely, the player with the most discs in their colour once the board is full. If you cannot place a legitimate disc you miss a go. Play begins and continues, by placing a disc of your assigned colour face-up and flanking the opposing colour with a disc already in play.Īll discs trapped between yours, horizontally, vertically and diagonally get flipped over and become your colour. The board starts with two black and two white discs placed diagonally in the middle of the board. You get a pool of 64 identical discs that are black on one side and white on the other. If you haven't the game is very easy to learn… Perhaps that is how you stumbled across it. Reversi was one of the first games bundled with Microsoft Windows and Othello was one of Nintendo's first Arcade games. Or a very similar variant Reversi, at some stage. You may have already encountered the two-player game, Othello. So, can a game that was first mentioned in an 1886 edition of 'The Saturday Review' hold up to the modern gamer well over a century later? Read 'The Zatu Review' to find out! Othello - The Game It is his rules and game that are universally used today. What is definitive, is that in 1971 the game Othello was patented in Japan by Goro Hasegawa. ![]() ![]() Othello has been around since the late 19th century and as such, no one really knows its origins. Nor has it anything to do with the drowning of pets, so let's move swiftly on. "Drown thyself? Drown cats and blind puppies," said Othello in Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, but this game has nothing to do with the Great Bard (apart from maybe a hint of inspiration).
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