Japanese who created the popular Othello board game has died
TOKYO — Goro Hasegawa, the Japanese man who created the board game Othello, has died. He was 83.
In this Aug 4, 1997, file photo, Takeshi Murakami, the world Othello champion from Tokyo, Japan, makes a move during his first game against a computer at the NEC Research Institute in South Brunswick, N.J. Photo: AP
TOKYO — Goro Hasegawa, the Japanese man who created the board game Othello, has died. He was 83.
Hasegawa died after a long illness Monday (June 20) in his home in Kashiwa, a Tokyo suburb, said Marie Kimura of the Japan Othello Association, while declining to specify the illness.
Hasegawa came up with the idea for the game as a child, when he played with milk-bottle caps. He proposed it to a manufacturer as an adult in 1972.
His father, an English literature expert, was behind the name, inspired by Shakespeare’s play because the game uses round pieces — black on one side, white on the other.
Since in 1973, 24.75 million Othello sets have been shipped in Japan, not counting online or overseas sales, according to Tokyo-based MegaHouse Corp, which makes Othello. AP
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