Reversi, also known as Othello, is not a new board game. Though there is no formal proof of the origin of the game, people suggested 2 places from where Othello was invented

Reversi History (Othello)

Reversi, also known as Othello, is not a new board game. Though there is no formal proof of the origin of the game, people suggested 2 places from where Othello was invented. One is from China, by a game called 'Fan Mian', while the other is from Lewis Waterman and John W. Mollett in 1890s, who made this game available.

In about 1970, Japanese called Goro Hasegawa developed the modern rules of Othello, and they are formally adopted around the world now.

Othello is now a popular board game in many countries. Though it is not as popular as chess or backgammon, there are numerous players around the world. In Japan, it is estimated to have more than 60 millions of players. Recently there is a substantial growth in the Othello population among other countries after the fast development of Internet (for example, the presence of Othello in many online game sites), which is now an important media of spreading this game.

The game of Othello was introduced to Hong Kong in 1980s, when the company 'Apple Jeans' used an Othello board as a free gift for promotion purpose. However, the board was in yellow, in contrary to today's green board in formal Othello games. And the discs used were having the logo of that company printed on. Also, the two faces of the discs are red and green, symbolizing red and green apples. This is the origin of the 'Hong Kong styled Othello'.  

Later, another company produced this kind of Othello board massively, with the logo on the discs being removed. The board was very cheap and of poor quality. Both the discs and the board were made of plastics, and the discs are entirely green. You need to use the enclosed red round stickers to distinguish the two faces.

Unfortunately, with this kind of game becomes more and more popular, people in Hong Kong gradually mistook that as the formal style of Othello and even thought that Hong Kong was the origin of Othello.

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