Play Board Games Online for Free! - Play Reversi at MSO Worldwide

OBJECT:

Black and White alternate putting disks on vacant squares from an initial opening position. Each disk must be placed so that it sandwiches one or more enemy disks between itself and another friendly disk, with no empty squares intervening. The sandwiched enemy disks are flipped, changing color. If one player can't move, he must pass his turn. The game ends when neither side can move, usually when the whole board is filled. The winner is the player with the most pieces of his color. The walls are simply squares that cannot be occupied by disks. You can play from your own starting positions by editing the board to add walls (right-click on a position).

In the `Torus` variants the board wraps around on itself such that the top and bottom edges connect to each other and the left and right edges connect to each other. Every square is adjacent to 8 other squares, so there is really no corner or edge.

HISTORY:

Although rumors of earlier versions persist, no solid evidence of these has been found. Reversi was indepently invented in the 1880's by two Englishmen, Lewis Waterman and John W. Mollett, both of whom accused the other of stealing his idea. Mollett's game was called The Game of Annexation and played on a cross-shaped board. Waterman used the familiar 8x8 board and called his game Reversi, and successfully publicized the game in books and articles. Early rules for the game allowed each player only 32 disks each, but this had the disadvantage of rewarding a player for running out of moves (by giving him free moves at the end of the game). The game is now played with a common pool of disks available to both players. The game was very popular in the late 19th century, but eventually fell out of fashion, though it was still found in books of games and commercial versions appeared occasionally under various names. In the 1970's it reappeared (with the twist that the first four disks must be arranged in criss-cross fashion) and was marketed under the name Othello. It is still very popular, especially in Japan, and a World Championship and many other tournaments are held every year. A number of magazines devoted to Othello are also published.

STRATEGY:

The best squares to occupy are the corners because a disk there can't be flipped. Edge squares can also be powerful. Flipping the most disks is NOT important in the opening stage; in fact, having more disks than your opponent in the early stages can be detrimental as it limits your options. Until the endgame, limiting your opponent's mobility and increasing yours is an important factor in choosing good moves.

PIECES:

Disk:

When a disk is placed such that it sandwiches a row or column of enemy disks between two friendly disks, then all the enemy disks are flipped, becoming friendly disks. You may place a disk on any vacant square that flips some disks.