WHITE & BLACK (Takahiro Oyama)

Title – WHITE & BLACK
System – MSX
Author – 大山　隆浩 (Takahiro Ōyama)
Publication – Micom BASIC (マイコンBASIC) March 1985
Page Scans – 1 2
Preserved By – TWE
Recommended Emulator – openMSX

Download ROM

Loading the Game –

Two versions of the game are included:
– whitblak.wav, a cassette-tape recording of the original game;
– whitblak.dsk, a floppy disk image of the original game.

For whitblak.wav:
– After booting the machine, insert the tape image;
– Type ‘CLOAD’ and press Enter;
– After the game loads, type ‘RUN’ and press Enter to star the game.
For whitblak.dsk:
– Insert the disk image in the first slot, then boot the machine;
– The game should load and start automatically.

Game Instructions –

Use the arrow keys to move the cursor, and place either a white piece with 1, or a black piece with 2.
To complete each puzzle, make all the pieces in the Othello board white.

Article Translation –

WHITE & BLACK

Introduction

This is a single-player puzzle version of Othello. The objective is to change all the pieces on the board to white pieces, while only using the designated number of white and black pieces (LAST).

How to Play

There are a total of 5 levels. Unlike actual Othello, you can place pieces on the board that do not turn any other pieces.
Move with the cursor keys, and place a white piece with ‘1’, or a black piece with ‘2’.
You can clear the levels up to 3 with only white pieces. Levels 1 and 4 are basic problems.

Modifications

The DATA for each puzzle, in order, contains the black pieces, then the white pieces, then the LAST number, with binary values represented as hexadecimal values.
By changing the ‘6’ from line 980’s ‘IF LE=6’, you can increase the amount of puzzle DATA.
I think there’s still a lot of bloat in the logic routines and other such things, but this is my first simulation-type game, so I’m still not very good at this.

[ CHECKER FLAG ]

Dr. D: This game requires you to use your head, it’s like Gomoku or Othello. These kinds of programs tend to be easy to port to other machines.
Editor: The biggest challenge is understanding the algorithms, no?
Dr. D: That’s right! The algorithms are easy enough to find in the program, but you also need to understand what they do. But even if you don’t understand it, you can still change the game by tweaking the formulas.