Reversi FAQ
The questions people ask most about Reversi - the rules, the variants, the strategy, and how this site works. Here's the short answer to each; click through for the full explanation with examples. Looking for the rules of a specific variant? Head to the Rules hub.
Common Reversi questions
What is Reversi?
Reversi is a two-player abstract strategy game played on an 8x8 board with double-sided discs, one colour per player. On your turn you place a disc so it traps a straight line of your opponent's discs between two of yours, flipping them all to your colour. When the board fills up, whoever has more discs wins.
What is the difference between Reversi and Othello?
Reversi and Othello use the same rules - place a disc to flank and flip your opponent's pieces. The differences are historical: Reversi is the older Victorian game that traditionally lets players choose where the first four discs go, while Othello is the standardised, trademarked 1973 version that fixes those four discs in a diagonal cross.
What is Othello and how is it played?
Othello is the modern, standardised form of Reversi, created by Goro Hasegawa in 1973. It uses the same flank-and-flip capture on an 8x8 board, but fixes the four opening discs in a diagonal cross so every game starts identically. Dark moves first, and whoever owns more discs when the board fills wins.
How do you play Reversi?
On your turn, place a disc on an empty square so that it traps one or more of your opponent's discs in a straight line between your new disc and another of your discs. All trapped discs flip to your colour. You must flip at least one disc; if you cannot, your turn is skipped. When the board is full or neither player can move, the most discs wins.
How do you win at Reversi?
Winning Reversi comes down to three ideas: grab the corners safely because corner discs can never be flipped; play for mobility by keeping many good moves for yourself and few for your opponent; and control parity so you make the last move in each region. Chasing raw disc count early is usually a mistake.
Why are corners so important in Reversi?
Corners are the most valuable squares in Reversi because a disc placed in a corner can never be flanked or flipped. It becomes a permanent anchor that lets you flip long lines for the rest of the game and stabilise entire edges. Most Reversi games are decided by who wins the corners.
Why do I keep losing at Reversi?
The most common reason players lose at Reversi is chasing disc count - building a big early lead that collapses when the opponent takes a corner and flips it back. The other frequent culprits are playing the dangerous squares next to empty corners and running out of good moves. Fix those three habits and your results jump.
Is Reversi a game of luck or skill?
Reversi is a game of pure skill. There is no shuffle, no dice and no hidden information - both players see the entire board at all times. Every outcome is decided by planning, mobility and corner control, so a loss means you were out-thought, not unlucky.
What are X-squares and C-squares in Reversi?
X-squares are the four cells diagonally adjacent to the corners; C-squares are the cells directly beside a corner along an edge. Both are dangerous because playing them before the corner is settled usually hands your opponent a safe way to seize that corner. Avoiding premature X- and C-square moves is one of the first skills good players learn.
What is mobility in Reversi?
Mobility is the number of good legal moves available to you. Strong Reversi play keeps your own mobility high while squeezing your opponent's down, so that eventually they are forced into bad moves - like giving up a corner. Mobility usually matters far more than how many discs you currently own.
What is parity in Reversi?
Parity in Reversi is about who is forced to move first, and who gets to move last, in each empty region of the board. Because the final disc placed into a pocket usually flips the most, arranging to make the last move in the closing stages often decides tight games.
Which Reversi boards are solved?
The small boards are solved: on 4x4 the second player wins with perfect play, and on 6x6 the second player wins 20-16. The standard 8x8 game was weakly solved in 2023 by Hiroki Takizawa and proven to be a draw with perfect play, though that took an enormous computation. Larger boards like 10x10 are still far beyond exhaustive analysis.
What is Anti-Reversi (Misere Reversi)?
Anti-Reversi, also called Reversed or Misere Reversi, uses all the normal rules but inverts the goal - the player with the fewest discs at the end wins. You must still make legal flanking moves, so the challenge is steering the game so your opponent is forced to accumulate discs while you stay lean.
What is Rolit, the four-player Reversi?
Rolit is a modern four-player reworking of Reversi, using brightly coloured balls instead of discs. Up to four players share one 8x8 board with the same flank-and-flip capture, and a single move can flip several colours at once. When the board fills, the player with the most balls of their own colour wins.
Who goes first in Reversi?
Dark - the black discs - always moves first in Reversi and Othello. On this site you play the dark discs against the computer, so you take the opening move of every game. Moving first is generally considered a small advantage on the 8x8 board.
Can a game of Reversi end in a draw?
Yes. If both colours finish with 32 discs each on the standard 8x8 board, the game is a draw. Draws are uncommon but entirely possible, and at the highest level of Othello games are often decided by a margin of just two discs.
How long does a game of Reversi take?
A standard 8x8 Reversi game lasts at most 60 moves and usually takes three to six minutes. Smaller boards like 4x4 and 6x6 finish in a minute or two, while the larger 10x10 Grand Reversi board can run five to ten minutes or more.
Is Reversi good for your brain?
Reversi is a strong mental workout because it rewards planning several moves ahead, weighing trade-offs and reading the whole board - all with no luck involved. Like chess or go, it exercises forward planning and pattern recognition. It is not a proven cure for anything, but it is genuinely engaging, focusing mental activity.
Where does Reversi come from?
Reversi was popularised in England in the 1880s, when Lewis Waterman and John Mollett each claimed to have invented it and published competing rules. It was sold by Jaques and Son as a Victorian parlour game. In 1973, Goro Hasegawa standardised the rules and fixed opening in Japan and marketed the game as Othello, which drove a worldwide boom.
Which Reversi game is best for beginners?
Beginners should start with standard Reversi or the smaller 6x6 board against the easy computer. The rules are the same everywhere, but a smaller board and a gentler opponent make the flank-and-flip idea easy to see. Move up to Othello's fixed opening and the medium or hard computer as your confidence grows.
What is the daily Reversi challenge?
The daily challenge is a single Reversi game that is the same for every player each day. Because everyone faces the identical setup and computer, you can compare your result and finishing time against other players on that day's leaderboard. A new challenge appears every day at midnight UTC.
How does online multiplayer Reversi work?
Create a multiplayer room, share the link with a friend, and you both play Reversi on the same board in real time. One player takes the dark discs and moves first, the other takes light, and each move is relayed instantly. When the board fills, whoever holds the majority of discs wins.
How many discs are used in Reversi?
Standard Reversi uses 64 discs, one for each square of the 8x8 board. Each disc is dark on one side and light on the other, so any disc can belong to either player and flip between colours during play. Smaller boards use fewer discs - 16 on a 4x4 board, 36 on 6x6 - and the 10x10 Grand board uses 100.
Can you pass your turn in Reversi?
You cannot choose to pass in Reversi. If you have any legal move - a square where at least one disc flips - you must make one. Only when you have no legal move at all is your turn automatically skipped, and play passes to your opponent. If neither player can move, the game ends.