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How to Play Reversi

In a nutshell: The classic disc-flipping duel - outflank your opponent and rule the board. You play on an 8 × 8 board (64 squares), it's rated easy to learn, a lifetime to master, and it's an even fight - the four corners decide most games.

Reversi is the classic two-player game of flanking and flipping. You and your opponent take turns dropping discs onto an 8x8 board; every enemy disc you trap in a straight line between two of yours flips to your colour. The twist that keeps Reversi endlessly fresh is that the lead swings wildly - a board that looks lost can flip to a landslide in two or three moves, so the player with the most discs in the middlegame is often the one about to lose. This version uses the free opening: for the first four moves each player places a disc on any empty centre square, so no two games start the same way. Play the dark discs against a computer that ranges from a gentle beginner to a corner-hungry expert, or challenge a friend online.

Reversi at a glance

Goal	Finish the game with more discs of your colour than your opponent. When the board fills up (or neither side can move), the majority wins.
Board	8 × 8 - 64 squares
Players	1 player vs the computer, or 2 players online
Difficulty	Easy to learn, a lifetime to master
How it plays	An even fight - the four corners decide most games
Computer levels	Easy, Medium, Hard
Category	Classic Reversi

Step by step

History of Reversi

Reversi was popularised in England in the 1880s, when two rival inventors, Lewis Waterman and John Mollett, each claimed to have created it and published competing rule sets. The game was sold by the London firm Jaques and Son and quickly became a Victorian parlour favourite, played on a cross-shaped or square board with double-sided counters.

The game drew on even older "flanking and flipping" pastimes, and for decades it circulated in various forms with slightly different opening rules. Its defining features - the 8x8 board, the two-coloured discs and the flanking capture - stayed remarkably stable across all of them.

In 1971 the Japanese salesman Goro Hasegawa standardised the modern rules, fixed the four-disc diagonal opening, and marketed the game as "Othello". That trademarked version drove a worldwide boom, spawned a World Othello Championship, and became the form most people learn today. "Reversi" now usually refers to the free, un-trademarked classic, while "Othello" refers to Hasegawa's standardised game - two names for what is essentially one brilliant idea.

How to Win Reversi: Strategy

💡 Top tip: Grab a corner whenever you safely can - corner discs can never be flipped and become anchors that let you flip long lines for the rest of the game.

Winning tips, in order of importance

1. Play for mobility, not disc count: aim to keep many legal moves open for yourself while starving your opponent of good ones.
2. Having the fewest discs in the early middlegame is often winning, because it means your opponent has committed to squares you can flank later.
3. Avoid the X-squares (diagonally next to a corner) until a corner is settled - playing one hands your opponent the corner beside it.
4. Control the centre early and expand outward slowly; a small, solid group is stronger than a sprawling one you can't defend.
5. Force your opponent into the edges and X-squares by leaving them only bad replies - a quiet move that gives you a move and takes one away is gold.
6. Count parity in the endgame: try to be the one who plays the last disc into each empty region, since the final move in a pocket usually flips the most.

Advanced tactics for Reversi

1. Learn the four X-squares and four C-squares (the cells next to each corner); most losing games can be traced to a single premature move onto one of them.
2. Think in terms of stable discs - pieces that can never be flipped again. Build outward from a corner you own, because stability, not raw count, decides the endgame.
3. Use quiet moves that reduce your opponent's legal replies. If you can reach a position where they must play into a corner-giving square, the game is often already won.
4. Watch edge structure: an unbalanced row of your discs on an edge with a gap can be split and flipped, whereas a solid anchored wall cannot.
5. In the endgame, count the empty squares in each isolated region and work out who is forced to move first there - the player who moves last in a region usually gains it.
6. Do not automatically take a move that flips many discs; the biggest-flip move is frequently the worst, because it exposes your new discs to a corner-based reply.
7. Against a strong opponent, aim to give away discs in the middlegame to keep your mobility high, then convert that freedom into corners and stable edges late.

Common Reversi mistakes to avoid

• Grabbing every disc you can early - a big mid-game lead usually means you are about to be flanked, so play for position, not count.
• Playing an X-square next to an empty corner - it almost always hands your opponent that corner, so leave those diagonals alone until the corner is settled.
• Ignoring your own mobility - if you run out of safe moves you are forced into bad ones, so keep several good replies available at all times.
• Taking the move that flips the most discs - the flashy flip often exposes your new pieces to a corner reply, so quiet moves usually win.

Reversi Variations

Othello

The standardised, trademarked version with a fixed diagonal four-disc opening. Mechanically identical to Reversi but the tournament standard worldwide.

Anti-Reversi (Reversed)

A misere twist: the player with the fewest discs at the end wins, which turns every instinct about flipping and corners upside down.

Reversi 6x6 and 10x10

Smaller and larger boards change the pace completely - 6x6 is a sharp, solved sprint, while 10x10 adds more corners, edges and swing.

Rolit

A four-colour party version for up to four players, using the same flanking capture but with everyone trying to end with the most discs of their own colour.

Free vs fixed opening

Classic Reversi lets players choose where the first four centre discs go; Othello fixes them diagonally. The free opening produces far more starting shapes.

Reversi FAQ

Reversi guides & strategy

• Reversi vs Othello: what is the difference?
• How to win at Reversi: corners, mobility and parity
• Browse the full Reversi FAQ

Still have a question about Reversi? Browse the full Reversi FAQ, look up a term like flank or mobility in the Reversi glossary, or compare Reversi with the other variants in the rules for every Reversi game.

Last updated 2026-07-03.

Why Reversi.now?

Reversi.now is built for people who actually play: instant games, a genuine computer opponent at three difficulty levels, unlimited undo, smart hints, and per-game statistics that live in your browser. Every variant is here - Othello, Anti-Reversi, Rolit, and boards from 4x4 to 10x10 - plus something almost no Reversi site has: real online multiplayer, where you and a friend play the same board head-to-head on different devices. Browse the full list of free Reversi games, or read the Reversi FAQ if you're new to the game.

Want to sharpen your game first? Read our guides on how to win at Reversi and why the corners decide almost every game, or discover the surprising history of Reversi and Othello.

Common questions about Reversi.now

Types of Reversi

"Reversi" isn't a single game so much as a small family built on one brilliant rule: place a disc to flank a line of your opponent's pieces, and flip them all to your colour. From that one idea grow several distinct ways to play. The classic two-player games - Reversi and its standardised cousin Othello - are the heart of the family, played on an 8x8 board where the fight for the corners decides almost everything. A second group varies the board size, from a tiny, fully solved 4x4 puzzle up to a sprawling 10x10 battlefield, changing the pace and depth without touching the rules. A third group twists the rules themselves: Anti-Reversi reverses the goal so the fewest discs wins, while Rolit opens the board to four colours and up to four players. Every version shares the same flank-and-flip heart, so once you know one, you know them all - the differences are in size, opening and goal.

Classic Reversi

The classics are the games most people mean when they say "Reversi" or "Othello" - two players, an 8x8 board, and a duel of pure strategy with no luck at all. The only real difference between them is the opening: classic Reversi lets you place the first four discs freely, while Othello fixes them in a set diagonal cross.

• Reversi - The classic disc-flipping duel - outflank your opponent and rule the board. Reversi is the classic two-player game of flanking and flipping. (Easy to learn, a lifetime to master, 8 × 8 board.)
• Othello - The standardised, tournament version of Reversi - fixed opening, pure skill. Othello is the modern, standardised form of Reversi, the version played at the World Othello Championship every year. (Tournament standard, 8 × 8 board.)

Board Sizes

Same rules, different battlefield. Shrinking the board to 4x4 or 6x6 makes for lightning-fast, fully solvable puzzles, while stretching it to 10x10 opens up longer games with bigger swings and more corners to fight over.

• Mini Reversi (4×4) - Reversi distilled to 16 squares - a two-minute puzzle you can actually solve. Mini Reversi shrinks the board to a 4x4 grid, just sixteen squares, and turns the classic disc-flipping duel into a lightning-fast tactical puzzle. (Tiny but tactical, 4 × 4 board.)
• Reversi 6×6 - A compact 36-square board where every move is a fork in the road. Reversi 6x6 sits right between the tiny 4x4 puzzle and the full 8x8 game. (Fast & sharp, 6 × 6 board.)
• Grand Reversi (10×10) - A hundred squares of flanking warfare - more corners, more edges, bigger swings. Grand Reversi scales the classic up to a 10x10 board of one hundred squares, giving the flank-and-flip duel far more room to breathe. (Long & strategic, 10 × 10 board.)

Rule Twists

These variants keep the flank-and-flip capture but change what you are playing for. Anti-Reversi inverts the goal so the fewest discs wins, turning every instinct upside down, while Rolit adds two more colours and up to four players for a chaotic party version.

• Anti-Reversi - The upside-down Reversi where the fewest discs wins - lose to win. Anti-Reversi, also called Reversed or Misere Reversi, keeps every rule of the classic game but flips the goal: when the board fills up, the player with the fewest discs wins. (Mind-bending, 8 × 8 board.)
• Rolit - Reversi for a crowd - four colours, one board, most discs of your colour wins. Rolit takes the flank-and-flip heart of Reversi and opens it up to as many as four players, each with their own colour of ball. (Party chaos, 8 × 8 board.)

Which Reversi should I play?

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