Ishido - The Way of Stones (USA)
Ishido: The Way of Stones is a puzzle video game released in 1990 by Accolade and developed by Publishing International. It was designed by Michael Feinberg and programmed by Ian Gilman and Michael Sandige. Producer was Brad Fregger, and Brodie Lockard (the designer of the Shanghai computer game) contributed with graphics.
Ishido is a puzzle board game consisting of a set of 72 stones and a game board of 96 squares.
Every stone has two attributes: a color and a symbol. There are six colors and six symbols in each stone set, thus creating 36 unique stones. Since each stone comes in a pair, there are therefore 72 stones in each stone set.
The primary objective of Ishido is to place all 72 stones onto the board of 96 squares. The challenge arises because stones must be placed adjacent to others that they match, either by color or symbol. When the board begins to fill up, this objective is not so easily accomplished.
A valuable move is the 4-way, in which a stone is placed in the midst of four others, two of which are matched by color, and two which are matched by symbol.
Ishido comes with 6 differently themed stone sets, 5 different game boards, and a variety of Oriental chimes and sound effects.
Ishido is a puzzle board game consisting of a set of 72 stones and a game board of 96 squares.
Every stone has two attributes: a color and a symbol. There are six colors and six symbols in each stone set, thus creating 36 unique stones. Since each stone comes in a pair, there are therefore 72 stones in each stone set.
The primary objective of Ishido is to place all 72 stones onto the board of 96 squares. The challenge arises because stones must be placed adjacent to others that they match, either by color or symbol. When the board begins to fill up, this objective is not so easily accomplished.
A valuable move is the 4-way, in which a stone is placed in the midst of four others, two of which are matched by color, and two which are matched by symbol.
Ishido comes with 6 differently themed stone sets, 5 different game boards, and a variety of Oriental chimes and sound effects.
Ishido - The Way of Stones (USA)
Technical
CPU
- maincpu 68000 (@ 7 Mhz)
- genesis_snd_z80 Z80 (@ 3 Mhz)
Chipset
- YM2612 (@ 7 Mhz)
- SEGA VDP PSG (@ 3 Mhz)
Display
- Orientation Yoko
- Resolution 255 x 224
- Frequency 60 Hz
Controlers
- Number of players 4
- Number of buttons 7
- Kind of controler joy (8 ways)
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Ishido - The Way of Stones (USA) Screenshots
Ports and adaptations
Ishido was originally released for the Macintosh in 1990, with ports to MS-DOS, Amiga, Game Boy and Sega Genesis in the same year. The Atari Lynx and Famicom Disk System versions were published in 1991. The Microsoft Entertainment Pack contained an adaptation of Ishido called Stones.
An actual physical board game version of Ishido was published in Japan by ASCII in 1992.
An actual physical board game version of Ishido was published in Japan by ASCII in 1992.
Critical reaction
Ishido was rated 'Five Mice' by MacUser Magazine and entered into the MacUser Game Hall of Fame. It also won PC Magazine's Best Strategy Game of the Year Award in 1990.
The Atari Lynx version of the game was reviewed in 1992 in Dragon #181 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.
The Atari Lynx version of the game was reviewed in 1992 in Dragon #181 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.
Oracle and legend
Integrated into Ishido is a, oracle, way to ask questions of the ancient Chinese Book of Changes, the I Ching.
First you pose a question. Then you meditate upon it while playing the game. When you attain a '4-way' match, Ishido, utilizing the same algorithm as the authentic yarrow stalk method of consulting the oracle, obtains an answer.
An original translation of the I Ching, which used the Wilhelm/Baynes and Anthony translations as primary sources, was written for the game by Michael Feinberg.
The original Ishido game was published by Publishing International in a limited edition in a hand-made walnut slip box. Then the following year, 1990, Accolade published the first mass-market version.
Ishido came with a 20-page booklet, "The Legend of Ishido." It began in this way...
First you pose a question. Then you meditate upon it while playing the game. When you attain a '4-way' match, Ishido, utilizing the same algorithm as the authentic yarrow stalk method of consulting the oracle, obtains an answer.
An original translation of the I Ching, which used the Wilhelm/Baynes and Anthony translations as primary sources, was written for the game by Michael Feinberg.
The original Ishido game was published by Publishing International in a limited edition in a hand-made walnut slip box. Then the following year, 1990, Accolade published the first mass-market version.
Ishido came with a 20-page booklet, "The Legend of Ishido." It began in this way...
One misty spring morning in 1989, in the remote mountains of China's Han Shan province, a Mendicant monk of the Northern School of the White Crane branch of Taoism, walked silently out through the front gates of the Heavenly Peak Temple
The monk carried a stone board, a set of seventy-two carved stone pieces, and an ancient scroll inscribed with brush and ink in elegant calligraphic script.
The story was fictional and written by Michael Feinberg. Nevertheless, many believed that Ishido actually was an ancient game, recently re-discovered.He also carried with him a secret which had lain cloistered and hidden for thousands of years.
- Scott, Jason; textfiles.com, "Ishido: The Way of Stones"[1] (retrieved on 2007-09-16)
