more thoughts on reversi (aka Othello)

Early in the morning and I have been responding to e-mail and playing Reversi.

I wish I knew how to get a game where I could challenge specific people at this game.

It would be interesting to know who I am playing.  I always think some person in Turkey, Poland or Spain might be surprised to know that a woman just took them to school.  On the other hand, someone in an English-speaking country just womped me arse moments ago. 

Then too, it might be a woman I am playing.  There is no way of knowing who your opponent is.  That's a good thing because I know that many men would seek another opponent rather than play against a woman... for any number of reasons.

When my sister was a boat captain at Walt Disney World, there were men who wouldn't get on the boat if they saw her.  Child, please!

Regardless... the opponent can be anyone at all.  You just don't know who they are or what their circumstance in life is.  I could be competing against children or warriors or bankers or fashion models.  There's no telling!

I never know if I will win or not until the very end.

I do have some strategies which usually work.  I am feeling magnanimous and think I will share them.

I plan my next move immediately after making a move and then plan a second move in case they steal the keystone piece away with the move they are about to make.

You never can tell if the opponent knows what you know until you are waiting to   make a move and they block it.  The thing to remember is that things can change.  As long as there is an open square, there is hope.

If at all possible, flank the oppponent's piece that has reached the base of the board.  The corners and sides make your team strong. (A strong base helps you succeed.)

Another idea that helps is changing as many pieces to your color as possible.  The lateral swing of play often means that they can't reconvert all of your men.

It is possible to win the game before all the squares are filled.  I think I did it once.  It has been done to me.

I can actually envision myself in tournament play at Othello/Reversi.  I might not win, but I would dig playing other people in public and making the scene (which if you know me, is a strange thing for me to say.  I am the shy type, really.)  Othello does something to my ego. 

I usually confine my play to the beginners.  Maybe I'm not that good.  Still I wish that I could communicate with my opponents.  Often they give up before the board is even half-full.  I would urge them to stick with it.  If I win, I would ask them to play again so that they can learn from play.

My father never let me win when he taught me how to play Chess.  He told me I could not learn that way.  When I did finally win, I earned it! 

It is worthwhile to take the ego-bruising and become good at a thing.  That is what's known as paying your dues.

I don't remember how I got started with Othello.  Was the game a gift?  I do know that it started sometime in the 90s, when I was home with my mother.  I think the first game was one of the travel versions.  I remember buying a big board version myself.  If they had a portable electronic version, it would be a constant companion.  Turning over the pieces yourself... how de classe after playing online and not having to do the work.

V is a vicious Scrabble player.  Othello was my only chance to try to win.  She hated Othello.  I was dying for the day I conquered her in Scrabble. I wanted her respect that much.  I wanted the privilge of saying that I won, at least once in our history.

The sun is brightening the treetops I see from my window and casting light through my blinds.  Guess I'd better get up. (Phooey!)

 

 

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