Spot: A Drinking Game (of Sorts)

If you watched TV in the late 80s, you probably remember 7 Up commercials featuring various Spot characters from the logo, usually doing harmless mischief without being seen by humans.

Many gamers also know that the mascot starred in the platformer Cool Spot. Before this, however, there was a lesser known 7 Up puzzle game featuring the mascots. It was simply titled “Spot: The Video Game“ and released for the NES, PC, and Game Boy (1990).

Spot is a territory capturing board game somewhat similar to Othello. My brothers and I had the NES version and I enjoyed playing it.

Revisiting Spot, I was surprised to discover that the Game Boy version contains an epic chiptune that is nearly hidden. I will revisit this down below and provide a link for the music. First, though, some background on Spot.

The Origins

Spot was originally created by British game developers Dave Crummack and Craig Galley. They titled it “Infection”, but it wasn’t yet officially published. Virgin Mastertronic UK obtained the rights and released it as an arcade game called Ataxx. Ataxx has you playing against mythological creatures and monsters, giving it a dark, space/fantasy feel.

For the home consoles, it was almost released as a budget title. After securing the 7 Up license, however, Spot was made as a full-price title.

It’s NOT Othello

Because you use a board where you flip chips to be your color, Spot is often thought to be just a variation of Othello (or Reversi). However, the game play and strategies of the games are quite different.

First off, the boards are different sizes. Othello uses an 8 x 8 board. Spot uses a 7 x 7 board.

With Othello, you start in the middle with two pieces each. On your turn, you play a chip so that you capture your opponent’s pieces by being in between your new chip and chips already on the board (including diagonals). All the pieces of the opponent that get bookended change to be your color. The edges and corners of the board are powerful controlling points, since they can change many of the interior colors of the board.

With Spot, you start in the corners of the board. I’ll explain the move sets in the next section, but to change the color of an opponent’s chip, you only need to place a chip next to it. Any chips that are touching yours (including diagonals) change to your color. “Infection” was an appropriate title. With each move, you only affect the pieces in direct contact.

I would say the typical game would be a two player game, like Ohtello, however Spot does allow up to four players. To get four of your friends to play, you would need the NES multitap accessory. One or more of the opponents, however, can be set to CPU opponents with five levels of difficulty. For example, two players can play head to head with the two standard NES controllers in a two player game or they could play a four player game with two CPU opponents.

There is also an edit mode where you can choose from predefined boards with different configurations (some of the spaces are blocked out). You can also edit the boards manually.

Spot has Moves

So every turn, you can make one of two types of movement. You can clone a chip or you can jump a chip.

To clone a chip, you select any of your existing chips and then select any empty spot immediately next to that chip. A new chip will be cloned. This allows you to grow your numbers in addition to changing the colors of any opponent chips that are touching the new chip.

You also have the option to jump a chip two spaces away (including jumping over a chip). This allows you further reach when changing the opponents colors, but does not clone the chip. The chip will physically move and leave an empty spot where it used to be. This could leave a lot of your chips vulnerable right before your opponent’s turn.

Jumping also doesn’t have to be linear. You can make jumps similar to the movement a Knight makes in Chess. Sometimes visual images are better. I’ll revisit the jumping in a bit with some images from Nintendo Power.

Cloning vs Jumping is where the risk and rewards occur. Sometimes just cloning a chip doesn’t gain you much and jumping a chip gives better gains. Yet, the jump almost always leaves a part of your chips exposed.

You have to play if a move is available. So you or your opponent may be forced to jump a chip if nothing else can be done, possibly leaving many chips vulnerable.

The charm of the NES game is Spot’s animations. Whether cloning or jumping, your Spot chip will come to life and traverse the board in a variety of ways, such as moonwalking or breakdancing (truly a product of the 80s).

If you get tired of the animations and want faster gameplay, you can disable them as an option.

Nintendo Power Coverage

Nintendo Power had a full page dedicated to both the NES game (July/August 1990 page 75) and the Game Boy version (May 1991 page 64). The pages explained the basic game rules, move sets, and a few strategy tips.

The Game Boy coverage in particular did a good job of visually explaining the cloning and the jumping. They break the jumping up into the Skip (linear jumps) and the Side Skip (non-linear jumps).

I prefer to think of it as an inner square and outer square that surrounds your chip. Looking at the above images, the inner square consists of the eight locations immediately surrounding your chip. The outer square consists of the 16 locations surrounding the inner square. You can clone your chip to any of the eight spots in the inner square. Likewise, you can jump your chip to any of the 16 spots in the outer square.

The Box Art is for a Different Game

The box art for Spot isn’t bad, but it is a bit of false advertising. The images imply a much different style of game. The movie reel and pictures make it look like a platforming or adventure game (that would come later). At least the back of the box shows the actual game board.

Get a Discount by Buying 7 Up

The only full price listing of NES Spot that I could find was in a gaming magazine that listed it at $42.99.

When this was released, however, you could order a copy by mail for $24.99 along with four proof of purchases of 7up 2-liters. This is most certainly how we purchased Spot. I am sure I saw the commercials and the Nintendo Power coverage.

The Game Boy version of Spot also had a promotion with Toys R Us. With the proof of purchases, you could pick buy it for $19.99 instead of $24.99.

The Game Boy Musical Easter Egg

I almost wrote off the Game Boy title as the lesser version. It isn’t as colorful, lacks most of the animations, and only supports two players (passing the Game Boy back and forth). However, with this version, I stumbled upon one of the best 8-bit songs for the Game Boy that I have ever heard. And for impatient players, they may never hear it.

It only has two songs. One plays during the title screen and the other plays while it is waiting for you to decide your move. The second song is essentially the equivalent of the Jeopardy Think music. The NES version does have more typical ‘think’ music while you plan out your next move. The Game Boy version, though, plays an upbeat rocking song that sounds more like a lengthy title screen song for an adventure game.

This was such a treat to discover. The Game Boy songs were composed by Geoff Follin. Geoff and his brother Tim are known for doing quite a few notable 8-bit and 16-bit soundtracks for home computers and consoles. Some of their compositions include Ghouls ‘n Ghosts (C64), Terminator 2 (NES), Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos (NES), Plok! (SNES), Rock & Roll Racing (SNES), and Super Off Road (SNES).

Here is a link to a YouTube capture of the song. It is displaying the Title Screen, but it is really the ‘think’ music (it correctly identifies the song in the description). There are some funny comments for that video, too. My favorite is from a user named Dekoma, “Geoff! its just othello! calm down!”

I almost wonder if the two songs got flipped. The title track sounds good, but it would actually fit better as the ‘think’ music.

Here is a link that includes the title track, the ‘think’ music, and one full game being completed.

I Like 7 Up

I am nerdy, but I really enjoyed owning Spot. It is a fun and challenging board game. I find the flow to be nice. It has a smaller board than Othello, but with the jumping, the game may take as many moves or even a bit more than a standard Othello game. A good length, without dragging on. When you finish, you are left with the urge to play just one more game (always the sign of a good puzzle game). If you like Othello type games, this is definitely one to play.

Both versions play well. Young kids will appreciate the animations of NES Spot. The NES version also has the additional strategy mode of four opponents fighting for territory. However, the Game Boy version is a great alternative with that amazing, secret soundtrack.

Bonus: 7 Up Gold Commercial

Nothing to do with Spot, but I found this funny. For a short time, 7 Up made a cola named 7 Up Gold which I do remember drinking. My brother found this commercial on YouTube and it is hilarious. It is absurd and over the top, but I think it is exactly what they were going for. Enjoy!