No one ever taught me backgammon, nor did I EVER in my life see anyone playing it. Despite knowing it's a common game I just had no interest in learning because no one else cared to learn to play with me. Out of that list backgammon and othello (what the fuck is othello?) are the only two I don't know how to play.
EDIT: I looked up othello, yeah I've never played that and have maybe seen it once in my life.
I should have chosen Othello. Rym would have been much happier.
So, it's one thing to not regularly play backgammon. But seriously? It's hard to imagine someone who is at all interested in tabletop games not already knowing the rules to chess, checkers, backgammon, simple poker, othello, hearts, blackjack, and Chinese checkers by the time they're a teenager.
How did backgammon fall off your collective radar? It's a basic, standard, classic, widely known game.
Go belongs on that list far more than backgammon does.
Othello has effectively nonexistent positional heuristics for humans to use.
I am amazed that someone on this forum would never have heard of "Othello" as a game. Honestly amazed. Have you heard of Monopoly? Trouble? Candyland?
Everyone has heard of Reversi, nobody has heard of Othello.
Othello is the primary (and in most markets sole) brand name the game was ever sold under. Othello was the name of the game as it was licensed on videogame consoles like the NES and Atari 2600. Othello is the name of the tournament ruleset used worldwide. Othello refers to the modern, standard ruleset.
"Reversi" was popularized relatively recently as a name for the game, primarily because "Othello" was implemented on computers but needed a non-trademark-infringing name. No one owned a trademark on "Reversi," which was at best a colloquial name for the obscure origin game that became Othello, so it could be used freely.
The game was not well known until the 70s, when it was known as Othello. Reversi wasn't commonly used from that point until it appeared in shareware packs of little games on home PCs in the 90s.
Othello existed, nominally called Reversi, before the 70s. But it was relatively obscure until it was branded and popularized, with rules standardization, as Othello.
Go to any Toys R Us and look for "Reversi." You won't find it. You will find Othello.
I've never heard the name othello, but I've heard Reversi
Same thing.
Yeah I know I looked it up :P
I am amazed that someone on this forum would never have heard of "Othello" as a game. Honestly amazed. Have you heard of Monopoly? Trouble? Candyland?
There's no need to be a dick about it, I've never heard about it. I honestly didn't play that many board games as a kid I played video games. Also that is a stupid comparison to ask about those other games.
I am amazed that someone on this forum would never have heard of "Othello" as a game. Honestly amazed. Have you heard of Monopoly? Trouble? Candyland?
I'm pretty sure Geeknights was the source of me knowing about both Candyland and the Game of Life. Also Trouble was odd name for me, but one wikipedia search later it seems that I know it with another name.
I am amazed that someone on this forum would never have heard of "Othello" as a game. Honestly amazed. Have you heard of Monopoly? Trouble? Candyland?
I'm pretty sure Geeknights was the source of me knowing about both Candyland and the Game of Life. Also Trouble was odd name for me, but one wikipedia search later it seems that I know it with another name.
I had played Backgammon during some summer at 8 to 10 years old with my grandmother. I hadn't played since, and I never found it particularly exciting. I had to re-learn the rules and still: no passion.
I gained some passion when I realised the game was far less trivial than I expected. I'm also quite motivated to win this Grand Prix, especially given that I'm doing pretty well already.
The problem with Go is that, at the low level (beginner play, which is what most people here will be doing), the game is basically random. There just aren't simple heuristics.
Othello has a good set of directional heuristics (move pieces, don't expose a single piece, capture opponents' pieces if possible) and positional heuristics (I have more pieces further along).
Novice Go players will act basically randomly for most of any given game.
Othello has a good set of directional heuristics (move pieces, don't expose a single piece, capture opponents' pieces if possible) and positional heuristics (I have more pieces further along).
The number of online options doesn't really matter, as long as there's at least one decent one.
It's nice to have options. It's a lot easier for me to find an app or something that allows me to play online multiplayer chess than backgammon. All I have found for backgammon on iOS so far is like weird shady apps where their netcode is shit or no one is using them. They're also run by sites that I've never heard of.
EDIT: I guess Windows has internet backgammon. I might try that.
When we do backgammon, I would like to do it with ios. There are lots of free apps using game center. You can make the moves on your own time and not have to be real time play. Also, you can have multiple games at the same time to make things faster.
Obviously not everyone has ios but if we are self selecting opponents I would rather do game center.
Oh yeah, and chess/go would not be a good pick. I feel it would test more of "how long have you been playing that game" rather than "how good you are at games." Also, it is too easy to cheat at chess.
Comments
I am amazed that someone on this forum would never have heard of "Othello" as a game. Honestly amazed. Have you heard of Monopoly? Trouble? Candyland?
"Reversi" was popularized relatively recently as a name for the game, primarily because "Othello" was implemented on computers but needed a non-trademark-infringing name. No one owned a trademark on "Reversi," which was at best a colloquial name for the obscure origin game that became Othello, so it could be used freely.
The game was not well known until the 70s, when it was known as Othello. Reversi wasn't commonly used from that point until it appeared in shareware packs of little games on home PCs in the 90s.
Othello existed, nominally called Reversi, before the 70s. But it was relatively obscure until it was branded and popularized, with rules standardization, as Othello.
Go to any Toys R Us and look for "Reversi." You won't find it. You will find Othello.
But the name never changed. Reversi is just code for "non-licensed Othello clone."
Othello has a good set of directional heuristics (move pieces, don't expose a single piece, capture opponents' pieces if possible) and positional heuristics (I have more pieces further along).
Novice Go players will act basically randomly for most of any given game.
EDIT: I guess Windows has internet backgammon. I might try that.
U guys...
Obviously not everyone has ios but if we are self selecting opponents I would rather do game center.
Can't cheat in backgammon due to dice rolls.