1990 · Puzzle · Strategy

Ishido

Nintendo console exclusive

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.

Released: 1990
Platforms: Amiga Apple IIGS FM Towns Famicom Disk System Family Computer Disk System MS-DOS MSX PC-8800 Series PC-9800 Series Sharp X68000 macOS
Genres: Puzzle Strategy
Developers: —
Publishers: Accolade
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Party
Country: United States
Age ratings: ESRB E
Languages: English, Japanese

About

Ishido: The Way of Stones is a 1990 puzzle video game developed by Publishing International and published by Accolade. It was designed by Michael Feinberg and programmed by Ian Gilman and Michael Sandige. The game's producer was Brad Fregger, and Brodie Lockard (the designer of the Shanghai video game) contributed with graphics.

Keywords

mahjong
fan translation - english

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

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.

Reception

Compute! called the Macintosh version of Ishido "addictive ... a peaceful encounter with an Oriental flavor". The New York Times wrote that it "is one of those deceptively simple games, like Go, that gradually reveal their subtleties ...

most engrossing". Computer Gaming World called the game "a remarkably complex entertainment resource, with some pleasant surprises". The magazine liked Ishido's VGA graphics, and concluded that it would please both novice and experienced strategy game players. 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.

Legacy

The Genesis port of the game was involved in the copyright trial, Sega v. Accolade.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

Platform	Released	Regions
PC-8800 Series	13 April 1988	Japan
PC-9800 Series	13 April 1990	Japan
FM Towns	1 June 1990	Japan
Family Computer Disk System	7 December 1990	Japan
MS-DOS	31 December 1990	North America
macOS	31 December 1990	North America
Amiga	31 December 1990	Europe
MSX	31 December 1990	Japan
Sharp X68000	20 March 1991	Japan