Reversi

How to Play Reversi

Reversi (also known as Othello) is a two player strategy game on an 8x8 board. One player has the black discs, the other the white discs. The game starts with four discs in the center, two of each color placed diagonally. Black always moves first.

Rules

• On your turn, place one disc so that it outflanks at least one of your opponent's discs: your new disc and another of your discs must sandwich a straight line (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) of opponent discs.
• Every outflanked disc is flipped to your color. One move can flip discs in several directions at once.
• If you have no legal move, your turn is passed automatically. If neither player can move, the game ends.
• When the game ends, the player with the most discs of their color on the board wins. Equal counts are a draw.

Strategy tips

• Corners are gold. A disc in a corner can never be flipped, and it anchors stable lines along the edges.
• Avoid the squares next to empty corners (the diagonal "X squares" especially). Taking them often hands the corner to your opponent.
• Mobility beats material. Early in the game, having more possible moves matters more than having more discs. Flipping fewer discs often keeps your opponent short of good moves.
• Edges are strong but not always safe. Build edge positions that cannot be outflanked.
• Count at the end. In the last 10 to 12 moves, every disc matters: plan the order of your final moves to get the last word in each region.

Ways to play

Play against the computer (its strength adapts to you), start a Quick match to be paired with another player online, or choose Play with a friend to get a private link you can share. If nobody is online for a quick match, an AI player takes the seat, and it is always clearly marked as AI.