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An ancient Chinese territory control strategy board game
Strategy4.7
Reversi
Place a disc to trap your opponent's discs between yours and flip them. Most discs at the end wins.
Reversi
Each move must flip at least one disc. Dots show your legal moves. Grab the corners.
Space or Enter to start
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Game Guide
Reversi Guide, Rules, and Tips
Reversi, also known as Othello, is played with two-coloured discs on an 8×8 board. Each move traps a line of your opponent's discs between two of yours, and every trapped disc flips to your colour. The lead can swing wildly until the last move, so the player who controls the board's key squares usually wins. Play a friend or a computer that searches several moves ahead.
How to Play
- Black (player 1) moves first. The game starts with four discs in the centre.
- A move must trap at least one straight line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) of opponent discs between the new disc and another of yours. All trapped discs flip.
- If you have no legal move you must pass; if neither player can move, the game ends.
- When the game ends, the player with more discs on the board wins.
Strategy and Tips
- Corners can never be flipped, so they're the most valuable squares on the board.
- Avoid the squares diagonally next to an empty corner (the 'X-squares'); they usually hand your opponent that corner.
- Early on, fewer discs is often better. Limiting your opponent's moves matters more than flipping many discs.
- Edges are strong once the neighbouring corner is yours, since your discs there become hard to flip.
Controls
KeyboardMouseTouch
Click or tap any square marked with a dot; those are your legal moves. With a keyboard, move the yellow cursor with the arrow keys or WASD and press Space or Enter to place a disc. The last disc played has a small red marker.
Background
Reversi was invented in England in the 1880s, and the modern Othello version with its fixed starting position was published in Japan in 1971. It's often described as 'a minute to learn, a lifetime to master', because disc counts swing so much that the real game is about position.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I can't move?
Your turn is skipped and PASS is shown. If neither player can move, the game ends and the discs are counted.
Is Reversi the same as Othello?
Almost. Othello is the trademarked version of Reversi with a fixed starting position, which is the setup used here.
How strong is the computer?
It looks four moves ahead and values corners and mobility, so giving it an easy corner is usually fatal.