How to play Reversi

Reversi — best known by its trademarked name Othello — is a classic disc-flipping strategy game on an 8x8 board. You play the black discs against the computer's white. On your turn, place a disc so that one or more enemy discs are trapped in a straight line (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal) between your new disc and another disc of your color. Every trapped disc flips to your color. You must make a flipping move if one exists; the small dots show every legal square. If you have no legal move, your turn passes automatically. The game ends when neither player can move — usually when the board is full — and whoever has more discs wins.

Reversi strategy runs deeper than grabbing the most discs early. Corners are gold: a corner disc can never be flipped, and it anchors whole edges. Avoid the squares diagonally next to an empty corner, because they usually hand that corner to your opponent. Early in the game, fewer discs is often better — a compact position limits your opponent's options while keeping your own mobility high. The computer AI weighs corners, edges, and mobility and looks several moves ahead, then switches to exact disc counting in the endgame, so it punishes greedy play.

Prefer a human rival? Switch to 2 Players mode to play Othello online free with a friend on one device — black and white alternate turns on the same screen, no download needed.