Reversi Rules
Reversi is a family of two-player strategy games built around one satisfying idea: place a disc to flank a straight line of your opponent's pieces between two of your own, and flip them all to your colour. Every game here is played on a grid of squares with double-sided discs - dark on one side, light on the other - and whoever owns the most discs at the end wins. What changes between variants is the board size, the opening, and, in a couple of cases, the goal itself.
This page collects the rules for every game on Reversi.now. Each section covers the goal, the legal moves, and the details that trip up new players - with a link to jump straight into a game. If you're brand new, start with Reversi (the classic), try the standardised Othello, or ease in on the smaller 6x6 board.
💡 New to Reversi? Every game below shares the same core rule - flank a line of enemy discs and flip them to your colour. Learn one and the rest come instantly.
Classic Reversi: Reversi · Othello
Board Sizes: Mini Reversi · Reversi 6×6 · Grand Reversi
Rule Twists: Anti-Reversi · Rolit
Every Reversi game at a glance
Skim the whole family first, then jump to the full rules for any game below.
| Game | Board | Goal | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reversi | 8 × 8 | Most discs wins | Easy to learn, a lifetime to master |
| Othello | 8 × 8 | Most discs wins | Tournament standard |
| Mini Reversi | 4 × 4 | Most discs wins | Tiny but tactical |
| Reversi 6×6 | 6 × 6 | Most discs wins | Fast & sharp |
| Grand Reversi | 10 × 10 | Most discs wins | Long & strategic |
| Anti-Reversi | 8 × 8 | Fewest discs wins (misère) | Mind-bending |
| Rolit | 8 × 8 | Most balls of your colour | Party chaos |
Classic Reversi
Reversi
8 × 8 board · Easy to learn, a lifetime to master · 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.
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.
Placing a disc
On your turn, place one disc so that it traps one or more of your opponent's discs in a straight line - horizontally, vertically or diagonally - between the disc you just played and another of your discs.
Flipping
Every opponent disc caught in that line flips to your colour. A single move can flip discs in several directions at once.
Legal moves only
You may only play where at least one disc flips. Legal squares are highlighted. If you have no legal move, your turn is skipped automatically.
Winning
Play continues until the board is full or both players are stuck. Count the discs - the colour with more discs on the board wins; equal counts are a draw.
Othello
8 × 8 board · Tournament standard · a razor-thin margin at the top level - single discs decide titles
Othello is the modern, standardised form of Reversi, the version played at the World Othello Championship every year. The rules are the same flank-and-flip capture, but Othello fixes the opening: the four central squares always start with two dark and two light discs in a diagonal cross, so every game begins from the identical, balanced position. That single change turns Othello into a game of deep, studied theory - openings have names, edge shapes are catalogued, and the strongest computer programs play far above any human. Underneath the theory, the appeal is the same wild swing that makes Reversi famous: the disc count can reverse in a single move, and the player quietly steering toward the corners usually wins, no matter how far behind they look.
Goal
End the game with more discs of your colour than your opponent. The board holds 64 discs; whoever owns more when play stops wins.
Fixed start
The four centre squares begin filled: dark on e4 and d5, light on d4 and e5 (a diagonal cross). Dark always moves first.
Placing a disc
Play a disc so it traps a straight line of enemy discs - in any of the eight directions - between your new disc and another of your discs already on the board.
Flipping
All trapped enemy discs in every direction of that move flip to your colour at once. You must flip at least one disc for a move to be legal.
Skips and finish
If you have no legal move you pass automatically. The game ends when the board is full or neither side can move; count discs to find the winner.
Board Sizes
Mini Reversi (4×4)
4 × 4 board · Tiny but tactical · fully solved - the second player wins with perfect play
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. With so little room, every move matters enormously and games are over in a couple of minutes. The tiny board is small enough that mathematicians have completely solved it: with perfect play the second player wins, which makes Mini Reversi a superb place to train your calculation because you can genuinely read a game to its end. It is the ideal warm-up before a full 8x8 game, a gentle introduction for newcomers, and a surprisingly tense contest once you realise how quickly a two-disc lead can flip on a board this cramped.
Goal
Own more discs than your opponent when the 4x4 board fills up. With sixteen squares, the split is often decided by a single disc.
Fixed start
The four central squares begin with two dark and two light discs in the usual diagonal cross - here that is the whole centre of the board.
Placing a disc
Play a disc that traps a line of enemy discs between it and another of your discs. On such a small board, most lines are short - one or two discs.
Flipping
Trapped discs flip to your colour. Because the board is tiny, a single flip can shift the balance of the entire game.
Winning
Play until the board is full or nobody can move, then count discs. Skips are common on 4x4, so watch for turns where you are forced to pass.
Reversi 6×6
6 × 6 board · Fast & sharp · solved - the second player wins 20-16 with perfect play
Reversi 6x6 sits right between the tiny 4x4 puzzle and the full 8x8 game. Its thirty-six squares give you real room to plan - corners, edges and mobility all matter - while keeping games short enough to finish in a few minutes. Like the 4x4 board, 6x6 Othello has been completely solved: with flawless play the second player wins by the narrow margin of 20 discs to 16. That makes it a fascinating middle ground for study, because good play is genuinely rewarded but the whole game is still shallow enough to calculate deeply. For casual players it is simply a brisk, punchy version of Reversi where a single misstep near a corner can swing the whole board, and where the compact size keeps the tension high from the very first disc.
Goal
Finish with more discs than your opponent on the 6x6 board's 36 squares. Perfect play splits it 20-16, so most games are close.
Fixed start
The four central squares begin with the usual diagonal cross of two dark and two light discs. Dark moves first.
Placing a disc
Play where you flank a straight line of enemy discs between your new disc and one you already own, in any of the eight directions.
Flipping
All trapped enemy discs flip. On 6x6 the four corners are only a couple of moves from the centre, so corner fights start early.
Winning
Continue until the board fills or both sides are stuck, then count discs. Expect tight margins - a two-disc win is a solid result here.
Grand Reversi (10×10)
10 × 10 board · Long & strategic · a sprawling battle - bigger swings and longer endgames than 8x8
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. The extra rows and columns mean longer edges to fight over, wider open spaces in the middlegame, and disc swings that can be even more dramatic than on the standard board. The four corners are still the anchors of the game, but they are further from the centre, so the struggle to reach them safely unfolds over many more moves. Games last longer and reward patience and long-range planning; a lead can look commanding for a dozen moves and still evaporate once your opponent secures an edge and starts flipping in bulk. If the standard board feels cramped, Grand Reversi is the expansive, slow-burning version where deep strategy has space to unfold.
Goal
End with more discs than your opponent across the 10x10 board's 100 squares. Big boards mean big final counts and wide margins.
Fixed start
The four central squares begin with two dark and two light discs in the standard diagonal cross. Dark moves first.
Placing a disc
Flank a straight line of enemy discs between your new disc and another of yours, in any direction. Long edges make for long, sweeping flips.
Flipping
Every trapped disc flips. On a 10x10 board a single move down a full edge can flip a huge line at once, so watch those long diagonals and rows.
Winning
Play until the board fills or both sides are stuck, then count. Expect longer games and larger swings than on the standard board.
Rule Twists
Anti-Reversi
8 × 8 board · Mind-bending · everything reversed - the player with the fewest discs wins
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. That one change turns your instincts inside out. Suddenly flipping lots of discs is bad, corners can be poison, and the greedy-looking move is often the smart one. You still have to make legal flanking moves - you cannot simply refuse to flip - so the challenge is steering the flow of the game so that your opponent is forced to accumulate discs while you stay lean. It is a fiendish, counter-intuitive puzzle that will scramble the brain of anyone who has drilled normal Reversi strategy, and a brilliant way to test whether you truly understand why the standard moves work - because here, most of them are exactly wrong.
Goal
End the game with FEWER discs of your colour than your opponent. The majority loses; the minority wins.
Same moves, opposite aim
All the normal rules apply: you must place a disc that flanks and flips at least one enemy line. You cannot pass by choice.
Flipping still happens
Every move still flips the trapped enemy discs to your colour - which is now usually bad news, since you want to own as few as possible.
Legal moves only
As in normal Reversi, you may only play where something flips, and your turn is skipped if you have no legal move.
Winning
When the board is full or nobody can move, count discs. The colour with fewer discs wins; a 32-32 split is a draw.
Rolit
8 × 8 board · Party chaos · up to four colours at once - 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. Played on the familiar 8x8 board, it uses the same capturing rule - trap a line of other players' balls between two of your own and flip them all to your colour - but with three opponents in the mix, the board becomes a gloriously chaotic free-for-all. Alliances form and shatter move by move, a colour that looks dominant can be swamped in a single turn, and the whole thing races to a frantic finish. On this site you take one colour and the computer plays the empty seats, so you can enjoy the multiplayer mayhem solo. When the board fills, whoever has the most balls of their own colour wins - simple to grasp, hilarious to play, and a completely different beast from the measured two-player duel.
Goal
Finish with more balls of your colour than any other player. With up to four colours sharing 64 squares, even a quarter of the board can be enough to win.
Four colours
Each player owns one colour. You play your colour; the computer plays the others. Turns rotate through the colours in order.
Placing a ball
Place a ball next to any ball already on the board. If a capturing move is available - one that traps a straight line of other players' balls between two of your own - you must make one, and the trapped balls flip to your colour. Only if you cannot capture do you simply place a ball adjacent to any existing one.
Flipping any colour
Unlike two-player Reversi, a flip can capture balls of several different colours at once - anything that is not yours, caught between two of yours, becomes yours.
Winning
Play until the board is full or no one can move, then count each colour. The player with the most balls of their own colour wins the game.
A few terms that apply everywhere
Flank & flip
The single rule at the heart of every game. Trap a straight line of your opponent's discs between the disc you just played and another of your own, in any of the eight directions, and every disc in that line flips to your colour.
Corners
The four corner squares are the most valuable on the board, because a disc placed in a corner can never be flanked or flipped. Corners become permanent anchors that decide most games.
X-squares & C-squares
The squares diagonally next to a corner (X-squares) and directly beside it (C-squares) are dangerous. Playing them before the corner is settled usually hands your opponent a free corner, so good players avoid them.
Mobility & parity
Mobility is how many good moves you have; keeping yours high and your opponent's low is a winning plan. Parity is about who makes the last move in each region of the board, which usually flips the most discs.
Ready to put the rules to work? Try today's Daily Challenge, play a friend in Multiplayer, or check the FAQ for common questions about Reversi in general.
Reversi rules FAQ
How do you play Reversi?
Two players take turns placing discs on an 8x8 board. On your turn you must place a disc so it traps one or more of your opponent's discs in a straight line - horizontal, vertical or diagonal - between the disc you just played and another of your own discs. Every trapped disc flips to your colour. Dark moves first, and when the board is full or neither side can move, the player with more discs wins.
What is the goal of Reversi?
The goal is to have more discs of your colour than your opponent when the game ends. Because a single move can flip a long line of discs, the lead swings constantly, so a big early lead is often a trap rather than a sign you are winning.
What is the difference between Reversi and Othello?
They use the same flank-and-flip rules. Othello is the standardised, trademarked 1973 version with a fixed diagonal opening, while classic Reversi lets players place the first four discs on the centre squares freely. Everything else is identical.
Which Reversi game is easiest to learn?
They all share the same rules. Beginners often find the smaller 6x6 or 4x4 boards easiest to grasp because the corners come into play quickly and games are short, and the easy computer level is a gentle place to start.
Can you pass your turn in Reversi?
Only when forced. If you have any legal move you must make one - you cannot pass voluntarily. If you have no legal move your turn is skipped automatically, and if neither player can move the game ends.
Want more answers? See the full Reversi FAQ or look up any term in the glossary.