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- OTHELLO IS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR GAMES AROUND TODAY.
- THE EXCITEMENT IS CERTAINLY JUSTIFIED, SINCE OTHELLO IS AN EXCELLENT
- GAME. OTHELLO SWEPT JAPAN AND IS NOW MAKING A COMMERCIAL SWEEP HERE.
- HOWEVER, THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE GAME HAVE BEEN AROUND SINCE THE
- VICTORIAN TIMES IN ENGLAND WHERE IT WAS CALLED REVERSI.
- THE GAME OTHELLO / REVERSI IS A VERY SIMPLE, ELEGANT ONE,
- WHICH PERMITS MUCH OPPORTUNITY FOR STRATEGY. THE GAME IS PLAYED ON AN
- 8 BY 8 MATRIX, AND EACH PLAYER HAS 32 PLAYING DISKS, WHICH ARE WHITE
- ON ONE SIDE AND BLACK ON THE OTHER (REPRESENTED IN THE COMPUTER
- VERSION BY 'X' AND 'O' RESPECTIVELY). ONE PLAYER PLAYS 'O' (COMPUTER)
- AND THE OTHER PLAYS 'X' (HUMAN). FOUR STARTER PIECES ARE PLACED IN
- THE CENTER OF THE BOARD TO BEGIN PLAY (EXCEPT WHEN A HANDICAP IS
- GIVEN BY EITHER YOU OR THE COMPUTER. IN THIS CASE THE CORNER SPACES
- ARE GIVEN TO THE PERSON RECEIVING THE HANDICAP [ BUT BEWARE!!! THERE
- IS A 25% PROBABILITY THAT ANY ONE HANDICAP PIECE MAY BE PLACED
- RANDOMLY ON THE BOARD]. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU GIVE THE COMPUTER A
- HANDICAP OF 3 [WHICH WOULD BE DONE BY ENTERING A RANK OF 8, RANK 5
- IS DEAD EVEN] , THREE CORNERS WOULD BECOME'O''S AT THE START OF THE
- GAME.). EACH PLAYER IN TURN PLACES ONE DISC ON THE BOARD [BY ENTERING
- Y,X TO 'YOUR MOVE'] AND MUST OUTFLANK THE OPPOSITION BY SURROUNDING
- ONE OR MORE ROWS OF HIS OPPONENT'S DISCS [THERE CAN BE ONE DISK IN A
- ROW] WITH ONE OF HIS OWN. AFTER DOING SO THE ENTIRE ROW BECOMES HIS.
- THE WINNER IS THE PLAYER WITH THE MOST DISCS OF HIS COLOR ON THE
- BOARD WHEN ALL DISCS HAVE BEEN PLAYED. THE STRATEGY COMES IN PLANNING
- WHERE TO OUTFLANK TO GAIN THE MOST DISCS OR TO MANEUVER PIECES TO
- THE STRONGEST POWER POSITIONS ON THE BOARD.
- THIS COMPUTER VERSION WAS DESIGNED NOT ONLY TO PLAY A REASONABLE
- GAME WITH A HUMAN OPPONENT, BUT ALSO TO AID IN PERFECTING OUR GAME.
- THE FOLLOWING LISTING WAS WRITTEN IN BASIC-E A DISK BASED MICROCOMPUTER
- LANGUAGE SUPPORTED BY IMSAI AND OTHERS. IT WILL RUN ON ANY CP/M BASED
- 8080/Z80 SYSTEM. THE GAME IS AVAILABLE FROM THE MEMORY MERCHANTS ON
- DISK OR AS A NON-DISK VERSION FOR TDL'S EXTENDED BASIC. THE LISTING CAN
- BE MODIFIED TO SUIT MOST ANY BASIC BY DELETING THE DISK ACCESS ROUTINES,
- INCLUDING LINE NUMBERS AND SHORTENING SOME OF THE VARIABLE NAMES [BASIC
- -E IS FREE FORMATTED AND ONLY REQUIRES LINE NUMBERS FOR GOTO'S AND GOSUB
- 'S AND ALSO ALLOWS VARIABLE NAMES UP TO 31 CHARACTERS].
- THIS VERSION HAS ELEVEN OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO THE USER. THEY
- ARE IMPLEMENTED BY RESPONDING TO 'YOUR MOVE' WITH A 0,# ,WHERE '#'
- IS A NUMBER FROM 0-10. COMMANDS 0,0 AND 0,5 ALLOW YOU TO SAVE THE
- CURRENT GAME ON THE DISK [0,5 SAVES IT WITH THE NAME DESIGNATED AT
- THE BEGINING OF THE GAME. 0,0 ALLOWS YOU TO CHANGE THE NAME OF THE
- DISK FILE]. IN THE EVENT YOU HAVE NO LEGAL MOVES, YOU MAY FORFEIT
- A MOVE AND LET YOUR OPPONENT TAKE AN EXTRA MOVE. THIS IS DONE BY
- THE COMMAND 0,1 [IF YOU USE THIS COMMAND AND THERE ARE LEGAL MOVES
- A LIST OF YOUR LEGAL MOVES WILL APPEAR]. COMMANDS 0,2 AND 0,3 ARE
- COMPLIMENTARY, COMMAND 0,3 EXCHANGES THE PIECES AND LETS YOU PLAY
- THE COMPUTERS CURRENT POSITION, AND, COMMAND 0,2 EXCHANGES THE
- PIECES BUT ALSO SWITCHES THE PLAY TO THE COMPUTER TO RETAIN THE
- PROPER CONTINUITY. COMMAND 0,4 ENDS THE GAME [FOR CHICKENS!!].
- COMMAND 0,6 PITS THE COMPUTER AGAINST ITSELF [AUTO COMMAND].
- COMMANDS 0,7 0,8 AND 0,9 ARE USED TO SET UP THE BOARD, MOVE A
- PIECE AND DELETE A PIECE RESPECTIVELY. TRY THEM THEY ARE SELF
- EXPLANATORY. FINALLY COMMAND 0,10 LISTS THE AVAILABLE COMMANDS IN CASE
- YOUR MEMORY BANK HAS A GLITCH.
- ************************** GOOD LUCK **********************************
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