Can a game of Reversi end in a draw?
Reversi does not always produce a winner. Here is when a game ends level and why it happens.
How draws happen
Since the 8x8 board holds 64 discs, a perfectly even split of 32-32 is a draw. It is not common, because the disc-swing nature of the game tends to produce a clear majority, but two careful players who both understand corners and parity can steer a game to a dead heat. In fact, 8x8 Othello was weakly solved in 2023 and perfect play by both sides is a proven draw.
Draws on other boards
Any even-sized board can draw with a 50-50 split. On odd-total boards it is impossible for the two counts to be equal if every square is filled, but games can still end before the board fills, so ties remain possible. In Anti-Reversi a 32-32 split is likewise a draw, since the reversed goal does not change how ties are scored.
Related questions
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.
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.
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.