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Subject: Re: Good at computerchess, Good at Otello too?

Author: Eelco de Groot

Date: 04:36:06 07/18/05

Go up one level in this thread


On July 18, 2005 at 05:58:39, George Tsavdaris wrote:

>On July 17, 2005 at 21:35:19, Joshua Shriver wrote:
>
>>Zebra.. its free and REALLY strong (just do a google search).
>>However I'm not sure what the exact difference is between Reversi and Othello. I
>>know they're nearly the same.
>
> They are EXACTLY the same by playing conditions and rules. Reversi is the
>game's name, but MATTEL produces reversi boards with the name "Othello"........
>
>
>>
>>-Josh

There seems to be some confusion about this, see here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Reversi

The remaining differences that I can find here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversi
and here, almost same text
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/R/Re/Reversi.htm"

"Originally, Reversi did not have a defined starting position. Later it adopted
Othello's rules, which state that the game begins with four markers placed in a
square in the middle of the grid, two facing light-up (indicated by o in our
diagrams), two pieces with the dark side up (indicated by x). The dark player
makes the first move."


"One difference between Reversi and Othello involves the supply of pieces. In
Reversi each player owns 32 pieces at the start of the game. Once a player has
placed 32 pieces (including the initial 2 pieces placed on the centre squares)
that player may not make any further moves. He/she may not use any of the
opponent's pieces. In Othello all the pieces belong to both players equally;
they come from a pool, from which both may draw in order to make a move."

On:
http://www.thecodeproject.com/csharp/Reversi.asp?df=100&forumid=16371&exp=0&select=914984
somebody posted

"Difference between Reversi and Othello
   ydlm  19:13 2 Sep '04
  Hi,

You say "Reversi - or Othello as it is also known".
Unfortunately Reversi and Othello are not exactly the same game. They had a
difference between them : when you put a new piece on the game, with Reversi you
return only ONE LINE (you choose the one you want) and with Othello you return
ALL THE POSSIBLE LINES.

So your article must be named "Othello in C#""

This "one line" rule probably only applies to the Reversi boardgame published by
Ravensburger. I have that edition but never played it yet, shame on me! I can
check the rules in the box if necessary. No program I know uses this rule and I
don't know if any program has rules about maximum numbers of pieces allowed to
the players. The starting position is as in Othello with four stones on the
board.

I do have an Basic interpreter program for a MSX Philips 4 MHz Z80 computer
lying around somewhere with some changes made by myself, that was fun to make.
Probably not as strong as Piloth.. :) I plan to adapt this to a Excel VBasic
program one day :)

 Eelco





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