493 Words About: Othello for NES
Othello for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is based off of the puzzle-board game Reversi which was originally invented in 1883.
I suck at this game.
I was also disappointed it had nothing to do with Shakespeare’s play of the same title, though I suppose the conflict between black and white tiles could be interpreted as the villain Iago fighting the will-power of Othello…but that’s pushing even my willingness to find fun narratives in what is ultimately an abstract puzzle game.
On a 64 square grid players will choose their color (black or white) and then in turn based combat (tbc) players will attempt to place as many of their own circular tiles on the grid as possible. The challenge becomes placing tiles so that my opponents will be converted into my own. Games will typically begin with a square of two white tiles and two black tiles, and from there my options are to try and sandwich my enemies tiles between mine by creating horizontal, vertical, or diagonal lines. This rule is important because as games progress my options to create these lines will start to disappear if I have not played the game well and, spoiler alert, I’ve never played this game well.
In fact I’ve never won a game of Othello in my life.
Cover art provided by The Cover Project.
Playing Othello on the NES app on my Nintendo Switch was at first just trying a game out, but after several losses it gave me an opportunity to reflect on how I choose games to play. On that same app I’ve played Super Mario Bros 3, Punch-Out, Excitebike, Donkey Kong, and Kid Icarus. None of these are puzzle games like Othello.
As much as I adore games like Chess, Fire Emblem, and the early Final Fantasy games, turn-based combat is challenging for me because I’ve predominantly played action games that incorporate direct control mechanics and thus have a real time strategy aesthetic. It’s also a lack of patience on my part.
Puzzle games like Othello are about observation and anticipation. Rather than immediately act at the start of my turn, the game encourages me to study the last move my opponent made to understand how they are approaching the pieces on the board. After a few moves, if I’ve studied their pattern correctly, I should arrive at a conclusion on how they will place tiles for the rest of the game and thus be able to anticipate their choices.
But, again, I’m not patient.
My energy is typically oriented towards actions and movement.
As of this writing though I’ve started playing more puzzle videogames. Partly because of this website (#content #attentioneconomy), and because I want to play as many different types of videogames as I can before I eventually die. Othello is a challenge because it forces me to play differently, and painful as every loss has been, I’m at least seeing progress in my ability to anticipate these losses and understand where they came from.
Joshua “Jammer” Smith
5.12.2025
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