Othello, also sold as Reversi, is a two-player game on an 8×8 board where you flip your opponent’s discs by trapping them between two of your own. The player with the most discs of their color when the board fills or no moves remain wins.
The rules take one minute to learn, which is why the game markets itself as "a minute to learn, a lifetime to master." Behind that simple flipping rule sits surprisingly deep strategy.
Setup and the Flipping Rule
Start with four discs placed in the center four squares, arranged diagonally: two black and two white forming an X pattern. Each disc is black on one side and white on the other, and Black moves first.
A legal move must outflank at least one enemy disc, capturing every enemy disc in a straight line between your new disc and another of your discs. Flipping can run horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, and a single move can flip discs in several directions at once.
Here is how a turn works:
- Find a square where placing your disc traps a line of enemy discs.
- Confirm your own disc anchors the far end of that line.
- Place your disc on the empty square.
- Flip every enemy disc in each captured line to your color.
- If you have no legal move, you must pass your turn.
- Continue until neither player can move or the board is full.
Every move must flip at least one disc. If you cannot flip anything, you skip your turn, and if neither player can move the game ends.
Counting and Winning
When the game ends, count the discs of each color. The player with more discs wins, and equal counts are a draw.
| Board state | What happens |
|---|---|
| All 64 squares filled | Count discs, most wins |
| One player has no move | That player passes |
| Neither player can move | Game ends, count discs |
| One color wiped out | Game ends immediately |
Do not chase a big disc count in the early game. Having many discs at move 20 often means you are overextended, and a strong opponent will flip huge lines back against you late.
The final tally is all that matters, so an early lead in discs means nothing if it collapses. Patience beats greed in Othello more than in almost any other simple game.
A Sample Opening Sequence
Watching the first few moves helps the flipping rule click. From the standard starting X of two black and two white discs in the center, Black has four symmetrical legal moves, each flipping exactly one white disc.
Every opening move must sit next to an enemy disc and trap it against one of your own, so the earliest moves cluster tightly around the center four squares. Only as discs accumulate do longer lines and multi-direction flips become possible.
A friendly practice game might run like this:
- Black plays adjacent to a white disc, flipping it to black.
- White responds, flipping one of Black’s discs back.
- Both players keep moves near the center for several turns.
- Lines lengthen, and single moves start flipping two or three discs.
- Play spreads toward the edges as the center fills.
- The corners and edges decide the final count.
Do not read too much into who leads early. Discs change color so freely in the opening that a commanding count on move fifteen can vanish by move forty, which is exactly why position matters more than the tally.
Reversi and Othello: Same Game, Small Differences
The names Reversi and Othello are used almost interchangeably, but there is a historical distinction worth knowing. Reversi is the older Victorian game, while Othello is the standardized modern version trademarked in the 1970s.
The key difference is the opening: Othello fixes the four starting discs in the center, while classic Reversi let players place the first four discs freely. Othello’s fixed start makes the game consistent and analyzable, which is why competitive play and nearly every app use the Othello rules.
The board size is also standardized in Othello at 8×8, whereas older Reversi sets sometimes varied. For practical purposes, when someone says either name today they almost always mean the fixed-start, 8×8 game, so you can treat the rules above as covering both.
Knowing the shared lineage helps when you shop for a set or open an app, since listings use both names. Whichever label you see, look for the standard center starting position and the flip-by-outflanking rule, and you are playing the same deep game that has kept players hooked for well over a century.
Quick Strategy for Beginners
The four corners are the most valuable squares on the board because a disc in a corner can never be flipped. Corners anchor stable lines that grow outward and win games.
Avoid the squares diagonally next to a corner, often called X-squares, because playing them usually hands your opponent the corner. Giving up a corner is the single fastest way to lose, so treat the squares around empty corners as traps.
Mobility matters more than material early on. The player with more legal moves controls the flow, forcing the opponent into bad squares. Aim to keep your own options open while shrinking your opponent’s choices.
Practice against a computer opponent to see these ideas in action, since most apps let you undo moves and study where a game turned. Watching how a strong engine refuses to grab early discs and instead waits for the corners will teach the patient style faster than any written rule.
A useful guiding idea is to play few discs and toward the center in the opening, keeping your position compact and flexible. As the board fills, edges and corners decide everything, so steer play toward safe edge lines that lead to corners. Master corner control and mobility, and you will beat casual players consistently while you keep studying the deeper edge tactics.