''Othello'' is a 1980 video game developed and published by

Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...

for its Atari Video Computer System (later called the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocesso ...

). It is based on the variant of

Reversi Reversi is a strategy board game for two players, played on an 8×8 uncheckered board. It was invented in 1883. Othello, a variant with a fixed initial setup of the board, was patented in 1971. Basics There are sixty-four identical game pieces ...

of the same name, originally created in 1971. The VCS game was programmed by

Ed Logg George Edward "Ed" Logg (born 1948 in Seattle) is a retired American arcade video game designer, first employed at Atari, Inc. and later at Atari Games. He currently resides in Los Altos, California. Career Logg was impressed with the Atari 26 ...

and

Carol Shaw Carol Shaw (born 1955) is one of the first female game designers and programmers in the video game industry. She is best known for creating the Atari 2600 vertically scrolling shooter ''River Raid'' (1982) for Activision. She worked for Atari, In ...

Gameplay

The game broadly resembles the game originally developed by

Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products wer ...

in that it is set on an 8x8 board on which the player must capture squares by sandwiching their opponent's counters between their own. The game has four skill levels. Both one-player and competitive two-player modes are included in the game. The player can create their own problem by depositing pieces on the board, and select whether to go first or not.

Development

The game was programmed by Ed Logg, who had studied artificial intelligence at the Stanford University AI Lab, and Carol Shaw, who later created ''

River Raid ''River Raid'' is a vertically scrolling shooter designed and programmed by Carol Shaw and published by Activision in 1982 for the Atari 2600 video game console. Over a million game cartridges were sold. Activision later ported the title to th ...

''. Shaw programmed the visuals for ''Othello''. The cover-art for the cartridge was created by Steve Hendricks.

Reception

A review in the Autumn 1983 edition of UK magazine ''TV Gamer'' criticised the AI, saying that, "the computer can manage only average ability even at its highest level of play", and that by that point the game was showing its age, but also said that the game would suit those who enjoyed that kind of strategy game. ''

Electronic Games An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common ...

'' editors Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel assessed the game as "moderately challenging", calling the AI "a fair, if unexceptional, opponent." Conversely, a review in the 1983 ''Book of Atari Software'' described the game as "a very sophisticated and challenging game" and gave the game a rating of "A" overall. A review in the January 1983 issue of ''Tilt'', the French video-games magazine, was broadly positive, particularly praising the ability to set up a problem before starting the game as an advantage over other electronic games of ''Othello'', though it noted that the "expert" difficulty setting merely equated to the level of a good beginner. Conversely, a review in the Autumn 1983 issue of ''Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games'' was praising of the AI, describing the opponent on "Expert" setting as "capable of beating the pants off of you".

References

External links

''Othello''
at Atari Mania {{DEFAULTSORT:Othello (1980 video game) 1980 video games Atari 2600 games Reversi software Video games developed in the United States

Gameplay

Development

Reception

See also

References

External links