Gigantic Othello board earns Guinness record recognition

Agigantic Othello board built by high school students at Nihon Gakuen in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, has been recognized as the largest in the world by Guinness World Records. This was Nihon Gakuen’s second attempt at the record — an Othello board built by the school in 2012 failed to earn recognition from the British organization.

The record-setting board is a square with 14.52-meter sides and 64 pieces that are 1.54 meters in diameter. This is almost twice the size of the board built by the previous record holder, a private high school in Mie Prefecture.

The students were presented with a certificate from Guinness at the school on Dec. 25, 2018.

Shinya Doi, 54, then the homeroom teacher of class B for the school’s first-year students, recruited students to start building the board in July 2017.

“I wanted them to have a sense of accomplishment, when they looked back on their high school days, from building something big as a class,” Doi said.

Made of plywood and rectangular lumber, the board took about two months to complete, with students working on it during summer break and after class.

The students applied for Guinness recognition after unveiling the board at the school’s culture festival in September 2017. They were notified of their success in early December 2018.

Doi was also the homeroom teacher during the previous attempt in 2012. However, this board was rejected because, among other reasons, the pieces the students had made out of cardboard boxes did not have a uniform thickness.

This time he was determined to succeed. He was motivated partly by the death three years ago from illness of Shuhei Nishikawa, who had participated in the previous attempt as a first-year student.

At first, some students were not motivated to attempt the feat. About half the class started working on the board, but as it neared completion more students became interested, and by the end, all 32 members of the class had participated.

“I was able to teach them the joy of making something,” Doi said.

“The class became unified through the project. I think it’s great to put effort toward achieving something big. I want to use Othello in events and such,” said Yusuke Ueno, 16, who was in charge of planning the board’s construction.

The giant Othello board was used to play a game at the school’s culture festival in September 2017.

Students of Nihon Gakuen high school pose with their Guinness certificate in Setagaya Ward on Dec. 25, 2018.