Othello is a registred trademark of Tsukuda Original, licensed by Anjar Co.,Copyright 1973,1990 Pressman Toy Corporation.
Rules
Othello is a game played on a board with 64 squares. The game starts with 4
pieces placed in the center of the board as shown
Players take turns placing a piece of their
color in order to capture one or more of their opponents pieces
between the new piece and one of their existing pieces, in
straight line. Any captured pieces are flipped over to become the
playerÂ’s pieces. A player may capture in more than one
direction. If no move exists where the current player may capture
a piece, then the player forfeits the move. The games ends when
neither player has a valid move, often this is when the board is
completely filled. The winner is the player with the most pieces.
The game is very close to another game Reversi. Reversi did not have a defined starting position.
History of Othello/Annexation
The origin of Othello is not known.
There is not any proof of rumours
that Othello arose from an old Chinese game called "Fan Mian"
(claimed in E. O. Harbin, "Games of Many Nations", Abingdon Press, 1954).
Lewis Waterman and John W. Mollett (both of London, England) both marketed
games with similar rules in 1880. Mollett's game was called Annexation and
was played on a cross-shaped board.
Waterman's game was called Reversi
and played on the familiar 8x8 square board. It is unclear whose version came
first, but Waterman's board and name are in use today. Walter H. Peel wrote
a book, Handbook of Reversi, published by Waterman's firm Jacques
and Sons in London 1888, and this book was reprinted in various guises
over the next decade.
Reversi differs from Othello in two respects.
In Reversi, the board starts empty, and in each of the first two turns each player plays a stone of his
own colour in one of the centre four squares. In Othello,
this is done for you, eliminating one of the
starting configurations of Reversi.
If you are unable to play at Reversi, you miss your turn.
However, once someone has used up all 32 of his discs,
the person with discs left gets to play all of the last moves.
The modern rules of Othello were invented by Goro Hasegawa
in 1971.
