Programmed by Niall Shapero, Vice Versa is the VideoBrain
equivalent of Othello (also known as Reversi). The
object of Vice Versa is to change your opponents stones to
your color by "flanking" them (i.e. have one of your stones on
each end of the row). As was the case with Checkers, Dr.
Arthur Samuel lent his skill to developing the AI used in Vice
Versa and it shows. The VideoBrain plays one mean game
of Othello!
The four personalities from Checkers are back, with the
addition of a new player called Ernest who plays at a very
high level of skill.
Name
|
Difficulty
|
Style
|
Abe
|
Easy
|
Quick and aggressive, but not too smart |
Betty
|
Medium
|
Quick and sharp, but not overly difficult.
Betty is probably the best player to play
against unless you're a Go pro. |
Charlie
|
Hard
|
Charlie is the first "real" challenge you'll
meet. Expect to lose the first couple of games.
|
Dorothy
|
Very Hard
|
Dorothy is the best players on the cartridge.
Dorothy plays very conservatively which makers
her hard to beat. |
Ernest
|
Impossible?
|
Ernest is comparable to those people who like
to sit in Central Park and show off their board game
playing expertise to us mere mortals. Not only
is Ernest almost impossible to beat, but he takes a
looooong time between moves. |
Vice Versa was manufactured from 7-27-78
to 3-2-79 and had a print run of 2,449 cartridges making it
fairly uncommon. Vice Versa (along with Math Tutor
Wordwise 2, and APL/S) was one of the last cartridges still
being produced when operations were shut down.
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