What is Rolit, the four-player Reversi?

Rolit is what happens when you open Reversi up to a whole table. Here is how the four-colour party version works and how it differs from the two-player game.

Quick answer: 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.

How Rolit works

Each player owns one colour of ball. You place a ball next to any existing ball; if your move traps a straight line of other players' balls between two of your own, that whole line flips to your colour - even if it contains a mix of colours. With three opponents rather than one, the board becomes a gloriously chaotic free-for-all. On this site you play one colour and the computer fills the empty seats, on the Rolit board.

How it differs from Reversi

The capture rule is the same as classic Reversi, but the up-to-four-colour format changes everything socially: alliances form and break, a leading colour gets ganged up on, and swings are wilder. You do not need a majority of the whole board to win - just more balls than any single rival. Because it needs a different setup, Rolit is played against the computer here rather than in online multiplayer.

Play Rolit against the computer

Related 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 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 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.