Classic Board Games: Othello

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Othello is a board game which I have always looked at as my go board game of choice throughout my life. The rules are simple, the strategies you can build are deep, and most importantly the game is fun.

How It Works

For those who have never played Othello before, you have a board with 64 squares on it, and two players start the game with two reversable black and white discs each, which are placed on the centre four squares. Just like in Chess one player is assigned to black and the other the white. Throughout the game more discs are added to the board and have to be won from your opponent where they will be flipped over to show your colour. Whoever has the most discs of their colour on the board when all pieces have been laid on the board wins. Simple!

The beginning discs are placed in a diagonal pattern of two black and two white. Then each player takes turns to add a new disc to the board, and they can only be placed in positions so that one or more discs of your opponent’s colour are sandwiched between two of your discs. If you achieve this, all the discs between the book ends of your colour are flipped over to your colour and become your discs.

This is a brief overview of how the game works, and whilst this isn’t intended to be instructions, this quick run down is pretty much all the rules.

A Tactical Game

One of the things which makes Othello such a fun and exciting game to play is that unlike Chess or draughts where captures pieces are removed from the board, Othello starts with just four pieces on the board and continually adds more and throughout the game the pieces will be won back and forth between the players continually. One moment it may look like one player is dominating the board, but just one move can see half the board flipped over and change colour.

This is where the strategy for the game comes in. Choosing the order and position for where to put your next piece is what the game is all about. Do you go for as many pieces to be your colour as quickly as possible? Or do you play the long game and look to get many pieces flipped over all at once after your opponent has built up a false sense of security?

The corners are the biggest prize to get in the game as once captured, your opponent is unable to take control of the corners back from you, and the most skilled players will be able to dominate opponents by forcing them into moves which will make the corners open for taking.

There are strategies which can nullify or block the effectiveness of a player who captures a corner if you’re sneaky. Often this is by forcing a player into filling squares that break the potential of their own chain of flips.

A Game with History

My copy of the game comes in a dusty old box which called the game ‘The ancient game of strategy from the mysterious East’ and shows a close up image of the game being played with a male and female hand each holding pieces to make moves. The image evokes an Aladdin like scene with a golden cup, finest fruit laid out in a spread, what appears to be a golden jewel encrusted lamp and Eastern designs on fabric and the hands each with expensive rings on that give a sense of the rich or important playing this game. Having checked out the game on Amazon today, the modern box designs don’t play into any culture which understandable nowadays does much for a far less interesting design. There was something about the old design which added to the mystique of playing this ancient game from a mysterious land…even if it was mass manufactured locally.

In reality, the game isn’t quite so ancient as it was created in 1971, although the game itself is a variation of the older game Reversi which came about in the 19^th century. Some claim that the game has it’s origins going back 5000 years, and some of the mystique around it adds to it’s appeal.

Should You Play It?

Absolutely! As a two player game, this is a game which is both relaxed and can be enjoyed with conversation and drinks, or it can also be fun to crack out for a quick game to mix up a few minutes on a games night.

Make sure you check out the Toys/Collectible section of the site for more articles about board games and fun collectibles. Also if you’d like to check out Board Games created by Xstreamed check out The Extreme Improv Board Game: Improvise Your Way Outta This which is available now.