HSC Season 6 Week 8: Othello

[Ze_ro]

Important Note: This week's competition is over and no further scores will be accepted.

 

You are locked in a battle of wits. Your opponent watches with a smug grin as you reach for the board and make your move. Strategy and planning are essential, because this week's game is Othello!

 

 

Game Information

• Game Name: Othello
• Released By: Atari, 1981
• Left Difficulty: B / Novice - Normal Game
• Right Difficulty: B / Novice - White plays first (You're white)
• Game Mode: Game 3 - Expert Level
• Chosen By: lonewolfette9847

Post your scores right here in this thread, and I will add them to the list. Remember to play the game with the recommended game mode and difficulty settings as shown above so that your scores will be consistent with everyone elses. The deadline for posting scores is Wednesday October 29th at 1:00 AM (CST).

 

Current High Scores 55-8 (Hornpipe2) [+11] 55-9 (DarthCalvin) [+10] 54-10 (toymailman) [+9] 51-13 (missioncontrol) [+8] 51-13 (Random Terrain) [+8] 51-13 (SeaGtGruff) [+8] 50-14 (aftermac) [+7] 48-16 (Nathan Strum) [+6] 47-17 (Deteacher) [+5] 45-19 (vintagegamecrazy) [+4] 43-21 (shadow460) [+3] 40-24 (Omegamatrix) [+2] 40-24 (SpiceWare) [+2] 39-25 (darthkur) [+1] 34-30 (ClassicGMR) [+1] 31-33 (LoneWolfSeth) [+1] 28-36 (Kurt_Woloch) [+1] 21-0 (jjd) [+1] Best Tips Hornpipe2 [+2] Challenges Shutout Superheros - Eliminate all the oppositions pieces from the board, and you win the game by default! Players with the highest amount of pieces on the board at the time of the shutout get bonus points (3 points for the person with the highest, 2 for second highest, 1 for anyone else who manages it). 27-0 (Hornpipe2) [+3] 25-0 (DarthCalvin) [+2] 21-0 (jjd) [+1] 21-0 (Omegamatrix) [+1] 17-0 (aftermac) [+1] 13-0 (toymailman) [+1] TwinGalaxies Top 3 50 (Tom Duncan) 21 (Troy Whelan) 13 (David B Yancey) (Game 3, Difficulty B)

Current Standings Deteacher [76] toymailman [74] DarthCalvin [69] darthkur [60] the 5th ghost [47] SpiceWare [44] aftermac [36] jjd [33] Impaler_26 [22] Kurt_Woloch [22] Zoyx [22] Hornpipe2 [18] Nathan Strum [16] Mister VCS [15] homerwannabee [11] LarcenTyler [10] maf [9] chuckwalla [7] LS_Dracon [7] LaserHawk3000 [7] midnight magicman [6] LoneWolfSeth [6] Spector [6] phaxda [5] ratfink [2] ClassicGMR [1] Artlover [1]

 

Scoring Points in Othello

• Each square you capture is worth one point. You lose points when your opponent captures your squares. The left controller player's score is displayed in the upper left corner of the screen; the right controller player's score is at the upper right.
• All game start with two black and two white squares in the center of the grid. At the game's end the television changes colors every few seconds. The player with the highest score wins the game.

 

Hints and Tips

• A corner square can be extremely valuable since it cannot be outflanked and since it serves as a permanent end in three directions(horizontally, vertically, and diagonally). Try to capture corner squares whenever possible.
• Squares which make up rows on the outside edges of the grid are also valuable. They can only be outflanked in one direction along the edge and they can serve as an outside "end" for three directions (2 diagonals and perpendicular to the edge).
• Be careful when approaching the row next to the outside row. When you capture one of the squares in these rows you become a possible bridge (for your opponent) to a corner or end position.
• A solid block of one color is often the key to a winning game. Another key to winning is dominating the corners of the grid.

The Manual
As always, you really should read the manual. In case you don't have the manual, AtariAge has a text copy and a scanned copy of it available online. Here are the hints it provides (See the manual itself for more details):
Hornpipe2
See Hornpipe2's post here for some in-depth strategy.

 

--Zero

[Hornpipe2]

There are two versions of this ROM floating around. One is pictured above, with black "pips" at the corners of the 3rd and 7th intersections. The other does not have these markers. I don't know if there are any other differences between the versions... but I'll be playing the one shown here as I believe it is a later version.

 

EDIT: I think it's funny that the manual says going first is an advantage - that is not really the case! In fact going second is better as your last play cannot be challenged.

 

EDIT2: Dear lord I hope we go with the text-label because 55 points! (And yes I double-checked the settings)

EDIT3: Shutout.

Edited October 24, 2008 by Hornpipe2

[Christophero Sly]

There are two versions of this ROM floating around. One is pictured above, with black "pips" at the corners of the 3rd and 7th intersections. The other does not have these markers. I don't know if there are any other differences between the versions... but I'll be playing the one shown here as I believe it is a later version.

Odd that this game would be picked because I'm currently working on a blog entry investigating this very topic.

 

It's too complicated to present all my findings here, but the two versions of the game are different, at least functionally. It's my determination that the latter (picture label) version of the game contains a bug in the algorithm that chooses a move when multiple equivalently-weighted moves are open. The algorithm most likely contains a psuedo-random number generator or else something that relies on some aspect of randomness found in the current state of the game.

 

After approximately the 16th piece is placed on the board, the picture label version of the game begins to exhibit stereotypical decision making that appears to result from the same continual input being feed to the algorithm that selects from among multiple open moves.

 

The text label version does not exhibit this behavior. It continues to show variability in it's decision making throughout the game.

 

Whether or not this bug was introduced to the picture label version when the gameboard markers were added, I cannot say.

 

Most players won't notice that there is any difference between the two versions because the stereotypical decision making of the picture label version is masked by the variability present in the player's decisions. However, if the player's decision making becomes stereotypical, then the restricted decision making of the picture label version is easily observed.

 

For the purposes of fair competition, I would recommend that you allow one version or the other, but not both.

 

I'll present all my findings in a blog entry as soon as I have time.

Edited October 23, 2008 by Christophero Sly

[IHATETHEBEARS]

Oh sure... now you do this game. Last week I beat the computer 63-0. I've had a few games in the 50's since then as well.

 

As this may be my first time contributing, can someone tell me how you are putting the pics on this page? Thanks!

[Hornpipe2]

For the purposes of fair competition, I would recommend that you allow one version or the other, but not both.

 

Perhaps someone could construct a "fixed" rom that repairs the PRNG in the markers version...? That would be the best option of all. Then you could play either the Fixed or the No-Markers.

Edited October 22, 2008 by Hornpipe2

[Christophero Sly]

BTW, I posted the move sequence for the 9-move shutout the last time this game was played, so you might want to eliminate that one from bonus consideration, as anyone can see how to do it.

[Hornpipe2]

BTW, I posted the move sequence for the 9-move shutout the last time this game was played, so you might want to eliminate that one from bonus consideration, as anyone can see how to do it.

 

Perhaps an alternate challenge then: the "Warlords Challenge" - end a game where you occupy all 4 corners? This seems pretty tough given that the computer values corners so much, and it's not readily repeatable either.

 

EDIT:

Oh sure... now you do this game. Last week I beat the computer 63-0. I've had a few games in the 50's since then as well.

 

As this may be my first time contributing, can someone tell me how you are putting the pics on this page? Thanks!

 

Dang. Were you playing against a level 3 opponent?

 

Anyway, for posting pictures - use the Attachments box right below where you enter your post. Browse to the picture on your computer and hit Upload, then make your post.

Edited October 22, 2008 by Hornpipe2

[darthkur]

39-25

 

[aftermac]

43-21

 

[shadow460]

Never mind...wrong level.

Edited October 23, 2008 by shadow460

[+Random Terrain]

41-23

 

 

Othello is one game I don't mind trying for a high score with since it's over in a reasonable amount of time.

 

How do you take a screenshot of it when it's green? As soon as the game is over, it starts changing colors.

[aftermac]

41-23

 

 

Othello is one game I don't mind trying for a high score with since it's over in a reasonable amount of time.

 

How do you take a screenshot of it when it's green? As soon as the game is over, it starts changing colors.

 

There's only about a 2 second window before it starts changing colors. I paused the game as soon as it ended and snapped the shot.

[+Random Terrain]

There's only about a 2 second window before it starts changing colors. I paused the game as soon as it ended and snapped the shot.

Thanks. I'll try that if I can get a better score. I keep getting things like 34 and 37.

[+Random Terrain]

46-18

 

 

After about 10 more tries, I finally got more than 41. I was still too slow to pause, but at least a green border came up this time.

[jjd]

A shutout!

 

21 - 0

[the 5th ghost]

How do you take a screenshot of it when it's green? As soon as the game is over, it starts changing colors.

 

Try moving the joystick. That usually resets the color of the screen when it goes into screensaver mode.

[toymailman]

Never played this one before. Fun board game port. Now if someone would just port Axis & Allies to the 2600!

 

44-20

[Deteacher]

36-28.

 

At least I finally beat him. Hopefully I can improve, but I've never been really good at Othello, regardless of the opponent.

Edited October 23, 2008 by Deteacher

[DarthCalvin]

48-16

 

 

I've beaten the VCS 63-1 before....on level 1

 

Level 3 is freakin' tough

[Hornpipe2]

The VCS plays a pretty predictable game, but it doesn't develop a good long-term strategy and we can use this to win most games. It places a high priority on gaining corners and edges. What you need to do to win is to make sure you get pieces on as many edges as possible, with a gap between yours and Black's, and then wait out your time until the VCS makes a dumb mistake and you capitalize on it. Here's a sample game.

 

At the beginning, note that the VCS is afraid to play outside of the center 4 blocks. It knows that if it does, you're likely to gain an edge first, and so it will wait to avoid that. Your objective at the beginning should be to have a wide dispersion of pieces throughout the center block. This gives you a lot of opportunity later to make some good plays.

 

Now the key to getting your pieces on the edge is to make sacrifices: allow the VCS to take a spot too, with the knowledge that you'll get it later. How I do this is to play a piece in a way that it completes a horizontal or vertical line and also forms a diagonal:

 

The VCS will then flip your piece with a diagonal move:

 

...but since you ensured diagonal backup, you may ALSO make a diagonal move and flip it back - gaining yourself a foothold on the edge.

 

It's important to note the safe places to play. Again, your goals are to secure a foothold on as many edges as possible, wait and force the VCS to make a bad move, and then capitalize. Let's look at that screenshot above with a little annotation:

 

The areas marked with a purple X are bad squares - as they border the corner, you are quite likely to be giving away a corner to the VCS. The yellow X goes on any edge square which is bordered by a black-edge and a white-edge. These are bad because if you drop a piece here, you've just surrendered that edge to the VCS. On the other hand, if you manage to wait out the rest of the game without an error, your opponent can be forced to play in a yellow square and this is the moment at which you take his edge, capture the corners, force him to pass, and make your high scores.

 

There are some exceptions to the "purple X is off-limits" rule, but I'll leave you with just one. Imagine this situation:

 

Here, the yellow X may be a safe play. That's because you already own this edge and the play would join the square to your existing owned pieces. Use this to your advantage when you need more "wait time" for the VCS to do something else stupid!

Edited October 24, 2008 by Hornpipe2

[aftermac]

47-17

 

Improved a bit. I'm hoping to get a shutout, but game 3 is pretty tough.

 

[DarthCalvin]

17-0

 

 

I was hoping to drag it out a little further but I was afraid if I didn't take it then I'd lose the shutout.

This does count seperate from my previous post, right?

[+Random Terrain]

Try moving the joystick. That usually resets the color of the screen when it goes into screensaver mode.

Thanks. Didn't work. I just need to remember to get ready to pause right after my last move.

[DarthCalvin]

23-0

 

.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

First try. 48-16.

 

Michael