Othello (GER) - used, condition A

In the 1880s, the Englishman Lewis Waterman developed a board game he called Reversi (Latin for "the upside-down").

In 1971, the Japanese Gorō Hasegawa (長谷川五郎) registered the variant Othello as a trademark in Japan without, as he claimed, having had any knowledge of Reversi.

The main differences are that in Othello the first four pieces are fixed as the opening, and in Reversi each player has exactly only 32 pieces. In Germany, Reversi is often played in such a way that only one row is turned over at a time. Originally, however, in Reversi, as in Othello, each enclosed row was captured.

Today Othello, along with Shōgi, Go and Renju, is one of the most popular board games in Japan, and it is played by about 25 million people there. In Europe and North America, the great success failed to materialise. Instead, Reversi is often sold here with the indication that it can be played with modified rules.

Othello is the game with the most annual world championships (since 1977) under licence rules


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