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Answers to the most common questions about Reversi (Othello) rules, gameplay, and strategy.
Reversi and Othello are very closely related but not identical. Reversi was invented in the 1880s and originally had slightly different starting rules — players could place their first two discs on any of the four center squares. Othello, trademarked in 1971 by Goro Hasegawa in Japan, standardized the opening position (the fixed diagonal pattern of two black and two white discs in the center) and added the rule that black always moves first. Today most people use the Othello rules regardless of which name they call the game.
Outflanking means trapping one or more of your opponent’s discs in a straight, unbroken line between a disc you just placed and another disc of your color that was already on the board. The line can run horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Every opponent disc in that line is flipped to your color. A single placement can outflank in multiple directions at once — all outflanked discs in every direction are flipped as part of one move.
If you have no legal move — meaning there is no empty square where placing a disc would outflank at least one opponent disc — you must pass your turn. Your opponent then takes another turn. If your opponent also has no legal move, the game ends immediately and discs are counted to determine the winner. Passing is never voluntary; if you can make a legal move, you must do so.
Corner squares (a1, a8, h1, h8) are the most valuable positions on the board because once a disc is placed in a corner, it can never be outflanked or flipped. A corner disc is permanently yours for the rest of the game. Corners also serve as anchors for building stable edges — once you hold a corner, adjacent edge discs become much harder for your opponent to flip. Controlling corners is the single most important strategic principle in Reversi.
The game ends in one of two ways: either all 64 squares on the board are filled with discs, or neither player can make a legal move (both must pass in succession). When the game ends, each player counts their discs. The player with more discs of their color on the board wins. If both players have exactly 32 discs, the game is a draw.
A strong opening strategy in Reversi focuses on mobility and restraint rather than capturing as many discs as possible. Try to keep your disc count low in the early game — fewer discs means your opponent has fewer targets to outflank, which limits their options. Aim to play near the center of the board, avoid the squares diagonally adjacent to corners (the X-squares like b2, b7, g2, g7) early on, and prioritize moves that give you the most future legal moves while restricting your opponent’s choices.
Yes. Outflanking and flipping works in all eight directions: left, right, up, down, and all four diagonals. When you place a disc, you check every direction for an unbroken line of opponent discs ending with one of your own discs. Every direction where outflanking occurs triggers a flip. Diagonal flips are just as common and important as horizontal and vertical ones.
A standard Reversi set contains 64 discs, which is enough to fill every square on the 8×8 board. Each disc is double-sided with black on one face and white on the other. Only 4 discs are placed at the start, and discs are added one per turn. No discs are ever removed from the board once placed — they are only flipped to change color.
X-squares are the four squares diagonally adjacent to each corner (such as b2, b7, g2, g7). Playing on an X-square early in the game is generally risky because it can give your opponent access to the adjacent corner. C-squares are the squares directly next to a corner along the edge (such as a2, b1 near the a1 corner). C-squares are also considered risky for similar reasons — they can allow your opponent to outflank along the edge and claim the corner.
Counter-intuitively, having fewer discs during the early and middle stages of the game is often advantageous. When you have fewer discs, your opponent has fewer places to make legal outflanking moves, which limits their options and may force them into bad positions. This strategy, known as playing for mobility, means you focus on restricting your opponent’s choices while keeping many legal moves available for yourself. The disc count only matters at the very end of the game when the final score is tallied.
Yes. If neither player can make a legal move, the game ends even if there are still empty squares on the board. This happens when no empty square would allow either player to outflank any opponent disc. In practice, most games do fill the entire board, but it is entirely possible for a game to end with several empty squares remaining.
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