Tabletop Time Machine
OTHELLO
Othello, as we know it today, was invented and patented by a Japanese man called Goro Hasegawa in 1971. He also founded the Japan Othello Association in 1973 and published the game with Japanese game producer Tsukuda. The game made its journey to the west in 1975 when it was produced by Gabriel Industries and finally entered the UK in 1976 through Peter Pan Playthings. The offcial game enjoyed great success and the British Othello Federation still organises championship games today. The other name used for this game is Reversi, which is generally used because the name Othello is trademarked. The rules to both are based on a much earlier game but nobody knows how old the game really is. In Games of Many Nations (1954) it was claimed that Othello was based on a Chinese game called ‘Fan Mian’.