The History of Reversi and Othello — From Victorian Parlor Game to Competitive Classic

The Disputed Origins (1880s)

The invention of reversi is one of board gaming’s great disputed claims. Two Englishmen — Lewis Waterman and John Mollett — both claimed to have invented the game independently in the early 1880s.

Lewis Waterman’s Claim

In 1883, Lewis Waterman published a set of rules for a game he called “Reversi” in London. He marketed the game with a dedicated board and pieces, and it quickly gained popularity in Victorian England. Waterman’s published rules are the earliest documented version of the game under the reversi name.

Waterman was a game enthusiast and salesman who recognized the commercial potential of simple, elegant board games. His version used a standard 8×8 board with pieces that were light on one side and dark on the other — the same reversible-disc concept used today.

John Mollett’s Claim

John Mollett, also English, claimed to have invented the core game before Waterman. Mollett called his version “The Game of Annexation” and asserted that Waterman had either copied or independently rediscovered his design. The dispute between the two was never formally resolved; no court ruling or definitive historical evidence has settled the question.

What We Know

What’s clear is that by the mid-1880s, reversi had become a genuine Victorian fad. The game was sold widely in England and quickly spread to Europe and North America. It appeared in game collections, was reviewed in newspapers, and became a staple of parlor entertainment.

The reversible-disc mechanism — discs that are white on one side and black on the other, flipped to show ownership changes — was innovative for its time and remains the game’s most distinctive feature.

The Victorian Boom and Decline (1885–1970)

Peak Popularity

During the late 1880s and 1890s, reversi was enormously popular. It was sold by multiple manufacturers, written about in gaming columns, and played in homes across England and the United States. The game’s simplicity — easy rules, short play time, minimal equipment — made it accessible to everyone.

Gradual Decline

By the early 20th century, reversi’s popularity waned. No organized competitive scene existed, no federation promoted the game, and newer entertainments drew public attention. For roughly 70 years — from roughly 1900 to 1970 — reversi existed as a known but unremarkable board game, found in game collections but rarely the center of attention.

During this period, the game continued to be manufactured and played casually, but it had none of the organized competition that sustained games like chess or checkers.

The Othello Revolution (1971)

Goro Hasegawa

In 1971, Japanese salesman Goro Hasegawa filed for a trademark on a game he called Othello. Hasegawa claimed to have independently invented a game very similar to reversi while watching the game Go as a student. His contribution was primarily commercial rather than mechanical — the core rules were essentially identical to reversi, with a few specific changes.

What Hasegawa Changed

The key differences between reversi and Othello:

1. Fixed starting position: Othello uses a mandatory starting arrangement with four discs in the center. Classic reversi allowed players to freely place their first four discs.
2. Trademark and branding: “Othello” became a registered trademark, owned commercially and marketed worldwide. “Reversi” remained a generic, public-domain name.
3. Standardized rules: Othello codified specific rules that had been variable in different reversi editions (such as who moves first and the exact starting configuration).

The Shakespeare Connection

Hasegawa named the game after William Shakespeare’s play Othello, the Moor of Venice. The stated reason was poetic: the play’s dramatic conflict between the Moor (Black) and other characters (White) mirrored the game’s black-and-white disc battles. The name gave the game a literary prestige that “reversi” lacked.

Commercial Launch

Tsukuda Original, a Japanese game manufacturer, produced the first Othello sets in 1973. The game was marketed with the now-famous tagline:

“A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.”

This tagline — attributed to Hasegawa — became one of the most successful marketing phrases in board game history. It captured the game’s accessibility while hinting at its depth.

Global Expansion (1973–1977)

Japan First

Othello was an immediate hit in Japan. The clean branding, elegant green-and-black board, and simple rules drove massive sales. Within a few years, Othello was one of the best-selling board games in Japanese history.

International Licensing

Othello was licensed internationally in the mid-1970s:

• Gabriel Industries brought the game to the United States
• Various European distributors handled regional markets
• The game was translated and sold in dozens of countries

The “Othello” brand — with its consistent trademark, packaging, and rules — spread far more effectively than “reversi” ever had. By the late 1970s, millions of people worldwide were playing what was essentially the same game that Waterman had published in 1883, but under Hasegawa’s trademark.

The Birth of Competitive Play (1977)

First World Othello Championship

The World Othello Championship (WOC) was first held in 1977 in Tokyo, Japan. This marked the beginning of organized, international competitive reversi/Othello play.

Hiroshi Inoue of Japan won the inaugural championship, fittingly for the country that had revived the game. The tournament established a format that would continue for decades:

• National qualifiers in participating countries
• A world championship event held annually
• Players from 20+ countries competing

The creation of the WOC transformed reversi from a casual parlor game into a genuine competitive pursuit. For more on the championship’s evolution, see the World Othello Championship guide.

National Federations

Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, national Othello federations formed across the world:

• Japan Othello Association — the largest and most active
• British Othello Federation
• US Othello Association
• French Othello Federation
• Federations in Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Thailand, and many other countries

These organizations ran national tournaments, ranked players, and sent representatives to the annual WOC.

The Computer Era (1980s–2000s)

Early Programs

Reversi was one of the earliest games programmed for computers. Its simple rules and bounded 8×8 board made it ideal for early AI research:

• 1977: The first strong commercial reversi programs appeared alongside the competitive boom
• 1980: “The Moor” and other programs demonstrated that computers could play at a strong amateur level
• 1990s: Programs like Logistello achieved superhuman play

Logistello vs. Murakami (1997)

The defining moment of computer reversi came in 1997 when Michael Buro’s program Logistello defeated the reigning World Othello Champion Takeshi Murakami in a six-game match, 6–0. This was a dominant performance — not a single game was close.

This was notable because 1997 was also the year IBM’s Deep Blue defeated chess world champion Garry Kasparov. Reversi was solved computationally even more decisively than chess.

For the full story of computer reversi, see the AI and computer players guide.

Modern Era (2000s–Present)

Online Play

The internet transformed reversi from a physical board game to a global online activity. Online platforms allowed players from different countries to play anytime, dramatically lowering the barrier to competitive play.

Continuing Competition

The World Othello Championship continues to be held annually (with pandemic interruptions). The competitive community, while niche, remains active and passionate. Japanese players have historically dominated, but strong players from France, the UK, Thailand, and the United States have all claimed titles.

The “Solved” Question

In 2023, Japanese researcher Hiroki Takizawa announced that Othello on the standard 8×8 board had been weakly solved — meaning that with perfect play from both sides starting from the standard opening position, the game is a draw. This result used massive computational resources and confirmed what strong players had long suspected: perfect reversi ends in a draw.

This makes reversi one of the most complex games to be solved, and it joins checkers (solved in 2007) in the category of classic board games where the theoretical outcome is known. For a deeper look at how these two games compare, see reversi vs checkers.

Cultural Legacy

Over 140 years after Waterman (or Mollett) first published the rules, reversi/Othello remains:

• One of the most widely played abstract strategy games in the world
• A staple of game theory and AI research
• A competitive game with international organized play
• Available on essentially every gaming platform

The game’s journey from a disputed Victorian invention to a Japanese commercial phenomenon to a solved mathematical puzzle is one of the most remarkable stories in board gaming history.

Timeline at a Glance