Reversi (Othello)
BoardReversi, sold for decades under the name Othello, is a two player disc-flipping game that takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master. You play the black discs against the computer. Outflank a line of white discs and they all flip to black. Whoever owns the most discs when the board fills up wins.
How to Play
Goal: Finish the game owning more discs than the computer.
Controls: Tap or click any highlighted square to drop a black disc. Highlighted squares are your only legal moves. On a phone the board scales to fit your screen, so a single tap is all you need.
Rules: A move is only legal if it traps one or more of the computer's white discs in a straight line (across, down or diagonal) between the disc you just placed and another black disc you already own. Every trapped disc flips to your color. If you have no legal move your turn is skipped. When neither side can move the game ends and the higher disc count wins.
Strategy tip: Corners can never be flipped, so grabbing them early is powerful. Read the full rule set on Wikipedia's Reversi page if you want the deep theory.
About Reversi
Reversi is a Victorian invention, two Englishmen claimed it in the 1880s, that found world fame a century later when Japan's Goro Hasegawa standardized it as Othello in 1971, named after the Shakespeare play about flipped loyalties. Two colors, one 8x8 board, and every move brackets enemy discs and flips them to your side.
Its slogan is earned: a minute to learn, a lifetime to master. The brutal joke of Reversi is that owning discs early means almost nothing, midgame discs get flipped back constantly, and the real currencies are corners, which can never be flipped, and mobility, having moves when your opponent runs out. Beginners hoard; players position.
Reversi positional play
- Corners are forever. Any move that hands your opponent a corner is almost always losing, check the diagonals before you play.
- Avoid the X-squares (diagonally beside corners) and C-squares (beside corners on the edge) until the corner question is settled.
- Play for mobility: fewer, better-placed discs that leave you many legal moves beat a big greedy wall.
- In the early game, prefer moves that flip few discs, every flipped disc is a wall your opponent can pivot around.
- Count the endgame. From about ten empty squares, literally calculate the final flips; most Reversi games are decided there.
FAQ
Why is grabbing lots of discs early a mistake?
Because discs in Reversi are hostages, not points, until the final count. Big early walls give your opponent more surfaces to flip and fewer safe moves for you. Strong players often trail on discs the whole game and win on the last few moves.
What makes corners so valuable?
A corner disc can never be bracketed, so it is permanently yours, and it anchors stable edges that can never flip either. Whole strategies revolve around forcing the opponent to concede a corner, which is why the squares next to corners are famously poisonous.
What is mobility and why does it matter?
Mobility is your count of legal moves. If you run out of good moves you are forced to play into corners' shadows or pass, letting your opponent dictate everything. Restricting the opponent's mobility while preserving yours is the core Othello skill.
What happens if I have no legal move?
You pass, and your opponent moves again, in Reversi being forced to pass is usually a symptom of lost mobility and a losing position. If neither player can move, the game ends and the higher disc count wins.
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