012: Reversi

September 17, 2020 - 8 minutes read - 1663 words

Today, I’m planning on making a Reversi set using the paint and wood boards I picked up on my trip to the village with Nord.

Reversi, a game that can be learnt in a minute, and takes a lifetime to master. The rules are simple but the strategies are complex.

I start by marking out an 8x8 grid of squares on the board, then I just have to cut that board to size and make the pieces. This is so easy to make, whoever came up with this must have been a genius.

Pretty soon, I was finishing off the Reversi set by painting the discs.

“Al?” Eleanora

“What is it?” Al

Eleanora has snuck into my room?

“It’s a board game called Reversi.” Al

“What’s that? How do you play it?” Eleanora

As I expected, a modern board game would be very intriguing.

“It’s easy, you just want to have the most pieces of your color at the end, that’s all you need to win!” Al

Eleanora was motivated immediately after hearing the rules. She was impressed by the discs, which were white on the top and black on the back. As expected from the catchphrase, Eleanora was able to pick up the game immediately. While I have taught her the rules, I didn’t teach her any advanced strategies.

“I’ll take over the board with my color.” Eleanora

“Then, I’ll let you make the first move.” Al

Place the two black and two white discs in the center, I then let Eleanora make the first move.

“This disc is sandwiched, so it’s white.” Al

Eleanora flips over one of my pieces, and early on at least, seems to be doing well at getting a lot of her pieces on the board. But her strategy is naive, counter-intuitively, it’s a good strategy to avoid taking many pieces in the early game.

“Ah, it was taken.” Eleanora

Eleanora seemed to think she would be able to keep her lead through the mid-game.

“I think I’m in a weak position even if I think about it myself.” Eleanora

Hmm, I think it’s about time for a counterattack, right?

“How about here? Looks like I’ll need to turn over these other pieces diagonally.” Al

“What? How? Why?” Eleanora

I find the squares with holes and take over Eleanora’s white stones one after another. It’s too far gone, as if a white T-shirt fell into soy sauce.

“You can’t place it anywhere, so you’ll have to pass.” Al

“What? Really?” Eleanora

“This turn is no good for you again.” Al

“Wow…” Eleanora

“Oh, this space is open. I can only flip one over.” Al

“Only one over…” Eleanora

And the game is over. Very few white stones remain and black stones cover most of the board. I ended up winning 56 to 8. This is overwhelming! My army is victorious!

So how will Eleanora react? She wasn’t saying anything, so I was getting worried.

“…” Eleanora

Eleanora is looking at the board with her mouth open. I didn’t play that seriously, but I’ve played the game a fair few times. Reversi is a 8x8 or 64 square game, so all a player needs to end up with at the end is 33 discs. You can let the opponent place a lot of stones and eliminate the places where the opponent can take yours. Then make sure that your stones can’t be turned over anymore. Aren’t those principles the base strategy?

You can’t lose if you take all four corners, taking a lot of edges is a good win indicator too. I had a friend who got too focused on the edges, so I was able to catch him in a Stoner Trap. Another friend aimed only at the corners, so I couldn’t do the intermediate level tricks like Edge creeping or causing an Unbalanced Edge.

“What happened?” Al

“This is interesting!” Eleanora

Eleanora had a delayed reaction, at first nothing, but now she’s enraptured.

“What?” Al

“One more time! One more time!” Eleanora

“Ok, I see, I’ll play another. Don’t hit the table.” Al

5 games

“Again!” Eleanora

“Yes, yes” Al

10 games

“One more time! I will find a way to hold an edge this time!” Eleanora

“Eh?” Al

18 games

“Why are you intentionally losing?” Eleanora

“Hey, I’ve played too much” Al

“One more time, just one more.” Eleanora

19 games

“So that’s called a Stoner Trap” Al

“Eh? I took the edge!” Eleanora

“Anyway, it’s dinner time.” Al

“There’s still some time!” Eleanora

“Huh? Didn’t you say that was the last game? If we’re late, mother will be angry.” Al

“Ok! One more game!” Eleanora

“I want to play with Silvio later.” Al

“It’s time for dinner? What are you two doing?” Elna

Since we’re the only two who haven’t showed up for dinner, our mother, Elna came into my room to bring us to the table.

“I’m playing this!” Eleanora

Eleanora points at the Reversi game board.

“Huh? Why are the discs colored differently on the top and bottom? What are the lines on the board for?” Elna

Elna is now caught in the Reversi trap.

“Well, you place discs alternately and trap the disc of your opponent to turn it into your color.” Al

“Oh, so that’s why it’s colored alternately. Elna

Eleanora and Elna sit down as Eleanora starts explaining the rules.

“Finally, the one with more discs of their color at the end of the game is the winner!” Eleanora

“Oh, that’s surprisingly easy. Can I place the discs anywhere I’d want.” Elna

“You can’t place one in a place where it doesn’t line up with another disc.” Al

“Ok, let’s play a quick game.” Elna

“Yep!” Eleanora

I left Elna, who was enraptured by the new game, and Eleanora, who wanted to show off her experience, and headed to the dining room for dinner. As I entered the dining room, Nord was sitting at the head of the table and Silvio was also seated. The tableware is set and the food is ready, but now a different set of two people are missing.

“Al, Where are Eleanora and Elna?” Nord

“They’re still in my room” Al

“Will they be coming soon?” Nord

“Probably not.” Al

“Is there a problem?” Nord

“Less a problem and more a temptation.” Al

“Silvio, can you take a look?” Nord

Silvio nods and leaves the room.

“Ah, dad. We may be having dinner a bit late today.” Al

“Hmm, why do you think that?” Nord

Twenty minutes later, Silvio had failed to return. Nord sent a maid to escort the three to dinner, and we finally got to eat.

That night, my Reversi board was confiscated by Nord and play was restricted for the next three days. It turns out giving that sort of entertainment to people who weren’t used to it meant addiction. In the future, I’ll need to be more careful introducing these things.

I made two more Reversi sets for my family to enjoy, but that used up the materials I had purchased. It seems I only had enough on hand to make three sets. I expected Eleanora and Elna would want a set, but I didn’t expect Bartolo to also want a set. This sounds like a generally compelling game.

That’s why I decided to head to the village to talk with Mrs. Celia. The warm sunshine of Spring feels good on my face. The plants sway in the breeze as if they’re celebrating Spring with me. Spring and autumn can shift between hot and cold, but usually they find an appropriate temperature between the two. That’s why they’re the most popular seasons for people. Summer and Winter just can’t compete.

“Oh, summer. I like ice cream.” Person A

“But aren’t you sweating all the time when you’re outside in Summer?” Person B

“True… maybe I like Winter.” Person A

There are many people who can’t make up their minds, whether summer and winter are good or bad. Most people just pick Spring or Fall, they’re easy to pick. While I was walking along the road, I passed the place we had met the farmer husband and friend the first time I came down to the village.

“Today the farmer husband isn’t working here.” Al

The lush green wheat is swaying in the wind. It’s like it’s welcoming me to Koriat village. It should be about three months before it turns into a golden carpet. I proceed along the Golden Wheat Road to the crowded village square.

When I went to visit the restaurant from last visit, there were several men hanging around not working.

Oh, there was the husband I met last time, did your wife get annoyed? Are you ok? Aren’t farmers usually pretty busy? I thought that was how that worked, but maybe they got an early start and they’re resting now.

“Oh, Alfred. What are you here for?” Celia

“Eh, did you forget? I wanted to look into making a tool for a new dish.” Al

“Oh, right. That makes sense.” Celia

Celia shook hands with me. She definitely forgot about it.

“Do you want blacksmith Logan to make you something.” Celia

“Yes, I’d like to order a certain type of frying pan.” Al

“If you want to find him, go north from the village mayor’s house. It a small house and he should be working right now, so just listen for the hammer.” Celia

“Ok, I’m off.” Al

I left the restaurant, but stopped right outside. I wonder if I should liven up the village a bit. I could loan/give my Reversi set to the restaurant for now. I grab it out from my Spatial Magic subspace.

“What’s wrong, do you not know where the mayor’s house is?” Celia

“No, I though you might like to play this game.” Al

I handed over the set to Celia, who looked somewhat confused. After teaching the rules to her, I again set off to the blacksmith’s house.