Introduction

Othello (or Reversi) is a board game for two players where each takes it in turn to place counters on an 8x8 board in such a way that it captures their opponent's counters. The winner is the player with the most counters when the board becomes full or when neither player can make a move. A beginners guide to Othello follows after the explanation of the program.

Getting started

Once the game has finished loading you will be presented with the main menu that has the following options.

Start game | Starts a game of Othello with the current player settings.
Set up player 1 (white) | Allows you to set up whether player 1 is a human or controlled by the PC, and either enter a name or set the skill level for the PC.
Set up player 2 (black) | Same as the above option but for player 2.
Instructions | Takes you to these instructions.
Options | Allows you to set up the graphics and sound options.
Credits & website link | Tells you who produced the game and provides a link to the SOS Software website.
Exit | Exits Othello and returns you to Windows.

Player set up

Before starting a game you will probably want to go into one or both of the player set up screens. Simply click on the option for the player you want to edit and you will be presented with a dialogue box similar to either of those below.

The Swap button allows you to change whether a player is human or controlled by the PC.

The Edit button allows you to enter a name for a human player. You will not be allowed to enter a name for the PC and this will always change to read "Computer". When entering a name press Esc to clear the current contents (if empty it will cancel name entry instead) and Return to confirm your name.

If you have elected to play against the PC you can change the skill level by clicking on one of the two arrows. Level 1 is the easiest and is aimed at the beginner, while level 4 is the hardest and is aimed at the more intermediate player.

Click on OK to confirm your changes or on Back to go back to the main menu without saving any changes.

Options

The default settings for Othello are a graphics mode of 800 x 600 pixels at the highest available bitdepth your card supports (if your card does not support 800 x 600 it will drop to 640 x 480). The sound is also on and at full volume for both effects and music. If you wish to change any of these then you need to go into the Options menu from the main menu. Once there, you will be presented with the following dialogue box.

The first option will allow you to select a graphics mode of 640 x 480 up to the maximum your graphics card supports. The new settings will be applied once you click on OK. This will result in the program resetting itself, although other settings will be maintained.

You can also opt to have the game run in windowed mode, rather than full-screen. Again, changing this option will cause the game to reset once you click on OK.

The transparency option is used to turn the transparency effect on and off for the menus and the score boards. This is mostly a cosmetic effect and does not affect game-play (although board rotation may be slower at screen resolutions of 800 x 600 or less).

The next two options simply control the volume of the sound effects and the music. The values can be in the range of 0 for off and 10 for full volume. These will both be set at 0 if you do not have a compatible sound card.

Again, clicking on OK will confirm your changes and Back will cancel them and return you to the main menu.

Playing Othello

To begin a game of Othello click on Start game from the main menu, where you will be presented with the main game screen that will look like the following.

The bulk of the screen is taken up by the board. This can be rotated to your preferred viewing angle with the use of the arrow keys. Left and right will rotate the board, while up and down will change the angle.

The two score boards are in both of the top corners. Player 1 or white's score is displayed in the top left, while player 2 or black's is displayed in the top right. The number nearest the board is the current score for the game being played, while the number in brackets is the number of games that player has won (this is reset every time you begin a new set of games).

The bottom of the screen simply reminds you who's turn it is and what colour they are playing.

While playing, placing a counter on the board is achieved by moving the mouse pointer over the desired square and clicking the left mouse button. Legal moves are shown by the square turning green, so if it isn't green you cannot place a counter at the position under the pointer.

The right mouse button is used to quit a game and return to the main menu, although you can also use Esc to achieve this.

On the first game, the player that starts is determined by random. All following games are started by the losing player.

A beginner's guide to Othello/Reversi

The classic line for Othello is "minutes to learn, a life-time to master", which basically means that the rules of Othello are very simple and that anyone can learn to play it within minutes. However, it really can take a long time to master and there is a certain amount of unseen tactics behind its simple game-play that many fail to see. Having said that, this section will only teach you the basics if you have not played Othello or Reversi before.

The aim of the game

The aim is simple... finish the game with more counters in your colour than your opponent. Of course, the question is "How?". Read on...

At the beginning of the game you will be presented with a board that looks something like the following.

Playing the game involves each player taking it in turn to "capture" at least one counter of their opponents. Doing so will turn their opponent's counters into their own. In order to capture counters you will need to place a counter of your own colour so that your opponent's counters sit between your new counter and at least one more of your other counters. For example, taking the starting position above and pretending that you are playing white, you can move to any one of the following positions marked in green.

|  |  |  | X |  |  |

If you decide to place a counter at the square with the 'X', the board will change as follows.

The score is now 4-1 to white, as white now has 4 counters on the board, while black has just 1. Let's now make a move for black.

OK, they have now evened the score back to 3-3, but has moved into a position where we can take most of their counters. The following highlights all the available moves, but this time shows the number of counters that can be taken.

|  | 1 |  |  |  |  |
|  | 2 |  |  |  |  |
|  | 1 |  |  |  |  |
|  | 2 |  |  |  |  |
|  | 1 |  |  |  |  |

Remember that we can take counters in more than one direction at a time, so from here, we have the opportunity of taking two of our opponent's counters. Let's make that move.

OK, so now let's look at the current game from black's point of view. Here's the legal moves.

|  |  |  |  | 1 |  |
|  |  |  |  | 1 |  |
|  |  | 2 |  |  |  |

Black could take 2 counters and even out the score once more, but lets see what happens.

Hmm, black has only gone for taking one counter when they could have taken two! After closer inspection it appears that black has played tactically and wants to take three counters on its next turn. To put a stop to black's plan, we simply take back the counter they have just placed on the board...

Right then, that's the basics of the game, so now comes the strategy. Lets look at a game that has gone some way into play.

It is now black's turn. At first glance it appears as though black can take four counters by placing one of their own three squares up on the left hand edge of the board (highlighted in yellow). However, white has made a bit of an error in that black now has an opportunity to occupy one of the strongest positions on the board - a corner (in red).

The unique thing about corners is that they cannot be taken, but also any counter of the same colour that sits beside it cannot be taken either, and so on. Let's make that move.

Obtaining corners is not the only way of holding a strong position on the board. Any edge square is also strong in that they can only be taken from two sides, whereas every other square can be taken from all 8!

You are now armed with all the basic information you need. Just remember to think ahead and that any game can very quickly turn against your favour.

Have fun.

Credits

This version of Othello is an SOS Software production written by Jason Brasier with music by Achim Tober (music remains ©copyright Achim Tober).

The game is supplied completely free of charge (as Freeware) and can be distributed in its original unaltered ZIP or installer format as long as it is not sold as or as part of a commercial product (i.e. paid for).

Please visit the SOS Software website for updates and more games.

Special thanks go out to Robert Leong of GamerBlitz for testing and development advice, as well as all those members of BlitzCoder that helped during the development process.