Othello has its origins in 19th Century Britain.

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Two Englishmen Lewis Waterman and John W. Mollett both claim to have invented the game in 1883, each denouncing the other as a fraud. The game gained considerable popularity in Britain at the end of the nineteenth century.

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The game had a few distinct differences to the modern game most notably its name being 'Reversi' but additionally the rules differed in that the starting position was not fixed and each players only had 32 pieces at his disposal, rather than there being a shared pool of pieces.