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Othello

Space and Territory Games

Othello is a two-player abstract strategy board game played on an eight-by-eight board with disks that are black on one side and white on the other, in which players take turns placing a disk of their own color to flank one or more of the opponent's disks in a straight line, flipping every flanked disk to their own color, with the player holding the most disks of their color when the board is full or no moves remain declared the winner. It is a standardized, trademarked commercial version of the older nineteenth-century English game Reversi, developed and marketed in Japan from 1971 by Goro Hasegawa under the name Othello, with fixed official rules and equipment that distinguish it from Reversi's looser historical rule variations.

Facts
Origin Year
1971 1
Originating Region
Japan 1
Game Type
Abstract strategy board game 1
Governing Body
World Othello Federation 2
Sport
Game Type (category)
Board Game 1
Game Type (category)
Strategy Game 1
Classification
Player Count
Two-Player 1
Connections

Derived From

Reversi, Games

Othello is the standardized, trademarked 1971 form of Reversi (Hasegawa/Goro Hasegawa), with clarified opening rules; commonly treated as the modern branded descendant of the older game.

Source The Oxford History of Board Games

Featured In

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Reversi - Wikipedia
  • Othello section, paragraph 1, first sentence
    It was patented in Japan in 1971 by Goro Hasegawa (legal name: Satoshi Hasegawa), then a 38-year-old salesman.
  • Othello section, paragraph 1, second sentence
    Hasegawa established the Japan Othello Association in March 1973, and held the first national Othello championship on 4 April 1973 in Japan.
  • Lead section, first sentence
    Reversi is an abstract strategy board game for two players, played on an 8×8 uncheckered board.
  • entity record, description lead (player-count)
    Othello is a two-player abstract strategy board game played on an eight-by-eight board with disks that are black on one side and white on the other, in which players take turns placing a disk of their own color to flank one or more of the opponent's disks in a straight line, flipping every flanked disk to their own color, with the player holding the most disks of their color when the boa
View the Source
2. World Othello Federation - Wikipedia
Lead section, first sentence
Quote, Lead section, first sentence
The World Othello Championship (WOC) is the annual world championship tournament in the board game Othello, organised by the World Othello Federation (WOF) and its member national federations.
View the Source
Wikidata: Othello
Wikidata Q748139, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source

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