This game was included with the early Windows versions up to 3.0, first as the only game, in 3.0 accompanied by Solitaire. In 3.1 it was replaced with Minesweeper, but it got a final makeover and was released as Reversi 3.11 as a free download. This final version got a 3D look, as it had become popular with Windows 3, but retained the scalable graphics.
Scalable graphics were a common thing for Windows 1.0 games and Windows 2.x games. Usually they ensured that a game would display correctly both on EGA and VGA. Reversi, strangely, does not. Another uncommon thing is that the gray playfield always remains dithered, regardless of Windows version and color setting. The way Windows usually handels colors, the gray would have been solid form Windows 3.0 on. But it even stays dithered in a tru-color setting.
Reversi, I guess, is one of the hardest Othello versions ever written. When I first tried it on my IBM PS/2 55SX, I found it nearly impossible to beat, even on beginner level. Now, when I tried the hacked version on my regular computer, I had no problems at beginner level and beat it by 50 the second time I tried expert. Of course now my curiosity was piqued and I tried the original again. It was about the same. Maybe I just got better, or maybe I was lucky.
Nathan's Toasty Technology Page has two zips with hacked Windows 1.0/2.0 apps. You will find them under Misc Windows Screen Shots (darn framesets). They are hacked so they will run under newer versions of Windows. Reversi is among them. On the same site, BTW, you will find that Reversi was also included with OS/2, at least OS/2 v2.0.
Windows 1.0 was not a windowed environment in the same sense as the later ones. When you play this hacked Reversi under 95 or 98, it will start in a tiny window you first have to enlarge to make it playable. Reversi uses vector graphics, you can resize the Window at will and the board will grow and shrink with it. If you click on the screenshot at the top right of this page, you will get a larger picture of the same situation, but it is actually a different screenshot, taken after I resized the window. The way Windows 1.0 worked, this was necessary to make it playable on a shared screen, and I still find it pretty impressive.
You may find that the newer crosshair cursors, which are usually made out of 1 pixel lines, are a bit difficult to see on the grey board that consists of black and white pixels.
