How to choose an Othello set

This page does not review products, rank brands or carry affiliate links. It sets out what actually differs between sets so you can judge one in a shop or from a photograph. Prices and stock change constantly; the physics of a disc landing on a square does not.

Official Othello or generic Reversi?

The same game is sold under two names, and the difference is legal rather than mechanical.

• Othello is a registered trademark. MegaHouse Corporation, a Bandai Namco company, holds it, having inherited it from the line of Japanese publishers that began with Tsukuda Original in 1973. Ravensburger has distributed Othello in the United States and Canada since August 2024.
• Reversi is the Victorian name for the same game and is in the public domain, so anyone can publish it. Most cheap wooden and travel sets use this name.

Nothing in the rules differs, so a branded set is worth paying for only if the components are better. Often they are: official sets tend to have properly weighted discs and a board with disc wells. Sometimes they are not. Judge the components, not the box. The full name comparison.

The five things that matter

1. Square size against disc size

This is the one people never check and always notice afterwards. A disc should sit inside its square with a small margin all round. Too tight and you nudge four neighbours every time you flip one. Too loose and the position drifts out of alignment over a game.

A common, comfortable arrangement is a disc about 2 cm across in a square about 2.5 cm, giving a board roughly 20 cm on a side. Anything much smaller than that becomes fiddly for adult fingers, especially in the endgame when there are 60 discs on the board and you are counting them.

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2. The discs themselves

Sixty-four discs, all identical, black on one face and white on the other. Things to look at:

• Weight. Heavier discs sit still and feel better. Very light plastic discs skid when you flip a neighbour.
• Edge. A slight bevel or a rim makes a disc easy to pick up off a flat board. A perfectly flat-edged disc is annoying to lift.
• Finish. Gloss looks good in the box and shows every fingerprint. Matt wears better.
• Consistency. Both faces should be the same size and shape. Cheap sets sometimes have a slightly domed side, and a disc that rocks is a disc that gets knocked over.

3. Flat, hinged or folding

For a set that lives on a table and gets used, a flat rigid board with shallow wells is hard to beat. For a set that lives in a cupboard, hinged wins.

4. Magnetic or plain

Magnetic sets exist for one reason: playing somewhere that moves. On a train, a plane or in the back of a car, magnets are the difference between a game and a mess.

The cost is real though. Magnetic discs are usually thinner and lighter, the magnet fights you slightly when you flip, and a magnetic set is heavier to carry. At home they solve a problem you do not have. Buy magnetic as a second, travel set rather than as your only one.

5. Storage

You are putting away 64 small discs after every game. A set with nowhere to put them becomes a set with 61 discs within a year.

The good arrangements are a drawer under the board, a hinged board that holds the discs inside, two lidded trays, or a decent cloth bag. A flimsy cardboard insert is not storage, it is a delay.

Which kind of set for which situation

Things not to worry about

• Board colour. Green is traditional and easy on the eye, but nothing about the game depends on it.
• Wood versus plastic. A well made plastic board beats a badly made wooden one. Wood looks better and warps in a damp room.
• Included strategy booklets. Usually a page of generalities. Everything in them is on this site in more detail, starting with the strategy guide.
• Bundled timers. If you take up timed play you will want a proper clock, and if you do not, you will never use it.

A checklist to take shopping

1. 64 discs, identical, two colours, one on each face.
2. Squares comfortably larger than the discs.
3. A board that lies flat with nothing on it.
4. Somewhere for the discs to live between games.
5. Magnets only if the set is for travelling.
6. Coordinates on the board if you want to read or record games. Notation.

Before you buy anything

Play a few games first and find out whether you actually want a set. The board on this site is free, needs no account and marks your legal moves. If after a dozen games you are still thinking about the position afterwards, buy the nicest set you can justify, because you will use it for years.

And if you want to try it on paper tonight, the printable board and the printable rules sheet are both free.