Othello On The Move Review

Reviewed by Jane Warwick

All I can say is, this is the best game there is – I love it! Strange you may be thinking as I only received it today in the post! I can solve this quite easily. I was given my first Othello as a young adult (Pocket Othello), and played the game whilst travelling around Europe and when I was working in Africa. I taught my fellow teachers the game, so we played in the evenings using our hurricane lamps. It is a game that takes “a minute to learn and a lifetime to master” a quote which was on my box in 1980s and is on every side of the current box. It certainly is what it says on the box “a game you can play when you are on the move and I remembered that it fitted easily into a side pocket of my backpack and hardly weighs anything. It is great to get out when waiting for transport and to play on long journeys. The game is very compact and has not changed at all over the years except the colour of the board which is now a darker green. My original game was made by Peter Pan Playthings who were bought out by Blue bird toys (this company was responsible for the Polly Pocket range which some of you may remember), and then sold to Mattel and now belongs to John Adams Leisure Ltd. as one of its trademark IDEAL games. It is a clever game, so simple yet there is an awful lot of strategy involved. The board still doubles as both the board for the game (with storage sections for the discs underneath which act as trays for discs for each player whilst playing the game), and as a container as the board folds in half clicking into position thus preventing the discs from escaping.

What is the point of the game you may be asking? The object of the game is to have the highest number of your discs on the board at the end of the game when all 64 discs have been used. The discs are made of two colours: black on one side and white on the other. At the beginning of the game, each player chooses their colour, and 4 discs are placed in the centre of the board with two black and two white discs placed diagonal to one another. The idea is to capture your opponent’s colour by placing your disc on either side of their discs; (this can be done horizontally, vertically or diagonally); then you can flip their disc(s) over to your colour to gain another disc(s). This does sound easy but you could have six discs of your colour in a line and not notice that your opponent has place one of their discs on either side on your line (as you may have been trying to save another line) and you have now lost all those 6 discs as they are flipped to your opponent’s colour. Also, you need to remember that your opponent can take your discs horizontally, vertically and diagonally at the same time if they have their discs in certain positions. A really good game. It is a game for 2 players, and anyone can play it from 7 years upwards. If there are children under three around, care must be taken as the discs could become a choking hazard similar to other small pieces of toys. The only downside to this fantastic game is the box the game now comes in. Though this is made of card with a lovely modern design which includes a clear picture of the game, it is a large box and I think this could put people off from buying it as a travel game as they think the game is bigger than it is, rather than the perfect size for travelling. I would strongly recommend it as a gift for both children and adults.

Rating: 5/5

RRP: £7.99

This produce can be purchased from Argos here as well as Amazon here and also EBay.